Robustness of simple avian population trend models for semi-structured citizen science data is species-dependent

Accurate and robust population monitoring is essential to effective biodiversity conservation, and is at the heart of BTO’s mission. While all BTO-led surveys and schemes are volunteer driven, observation protocols differ among them, spanning the range from the highly structured BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) to BirdTrack, which allows for the submission of casual observations by any interested birdwatcher. A new BTO study now compares data from these two schemes to see whether trends in BirdTrack reporting rates are comparable to population trends derived from BBS data.

Data integration for large-scale models of species distributions

A review by an international team of statisticians and ecologists, including BTO’s Ecological Statistician, has highlighted novel analytical approaches to better understand species distributions, by integrating data from a wide variety of surveys and other citizen science projects.

A new framework of spatial targeting for single-species conservation planning

Assessing factors associated with changes in the numbers of birds visiting gardens in winter: Are predators partly to blame?