Bird-Watching Citizens Used in First Golden Eagle Census
A new technique for estimating the populations of endangered and threatened species – involving the birdwatching public – could make conservation efforts more effective.
The technique updates the traditional “mark-recapture” method, in which a portion of a species population is captured and marked. After releasing the captured birds, scientists then count the number of marked individuals in a group caught later, which serves as the basis for estimating the population of a given species in a specific area.
However, estimating populations using the mark-recapture approach can be challenging when dwindling species are spread out over large areas. The new technique, on the other hand, turns individual observations by volunteer “citizen-scientists” into precise population estimates.
The approach, described Wednesday in the journal The Condor: Ornithological Applications, was used by a team of researchers to estimate the total number of golden eagles that migrate along a single, extensive mountain ridgeline in Pennsylvania each year.
https://www.courthousenews.com/bird-watching-citizens-used-first-golden-eagle-census/
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