Breeding Bird Monitoring Protocol for the Heartland Network Inventory and Monitoring Program (Natural Resource Report NPS/HTLN/NRR?2008/044)

It is against a backdrop of vanishing or altered ecosystems, declining bird populations and the unique role that National Park Service lands can play in conserving threatened bird species that the authors propose monitoring avian communities on National Park Service lands within the HTLN. Long-term trends in the community composition and abundance of breeding bird populations provide one measure for assessing the ecological integrity and sustainability of ecosystems. Long-term patterns in community composition and species abundance in relation to changes in the structural diversity of vegetation will improve our understanding of the effects of various management actions. There are two primary objectives for the monitoring described in this protocol: 1. Identify significant temporal changes in composition and abundance of bird communities in 11 parks within the HTLN during the breeding season. 2. Improve our understanding of breeding bird – habitat relationships and the effects of management actions such as grazing, exotic plant removal and prescribed fire regimes on bird populations, by correlating changes in bird community composition and abundance with changes in habitat variables.