LTERN Data Portal

The Desert Uplands Plot Network Bird Count Data contains bird fauna data for 1 of 50 permanent 1 hectare plots in Northern Queensland, Australia (note that previous studies were undertaken at 60 permanent 1 hectare plots). The plots represent three vegetation management strategies, namely: 1) clearing (where all trees and shrubs are removed); 2) thinning (where ground and midstorey vegetation is removed); and 3) unmodified native woodlands where significant thinning or clearing has not occurred. Cleared sites had been chain-cleared and sown with buffel grass between 1995 and 1999.

The sites are spread across four properties. The total number of sites within each category are as follows: a) cleared vegetation (n = 10 ), b) thinned vegetation (n = 10) and c) unmodified vegetation (n = 40).

As of September 2014 four of the previously cleared sites, which contained regrowth vegetation, have been re-cleared.

Each of the Desert Uplands bird monitoring plots is 1 ha in size, and located at least 1 km from any other site, 500 m from any water point, and 50 m from the nearest access track. Plots are stratified according to vegetation management history: 1. Cleared (vegetation has been pulled, removing all trees and shrubs); 2. Thinned (sub-canopy vegetation has been largely removed by the use of a mechanical device called a "crocodile", which is towed behind a tractor and removes vegetation such as Currant Bush, Carissa species, which is normally prevalent in the woodlands); and 3. Unmodified woodlands. Within each 1 ha site, eight timed diurnal bird counts are conducted over a four day period. Each count is of 5 minutes duration. Two counts are completed per day at each site: one count in the morning within three hours of sunrise and the other a minimum of three hours after this period and before sunset. Each count is completed by a single observer walking through the 1 ha plot. A predefined path is not followed; however, the observer attempts to cover all of the 1 ha plot area. Birds are located and identified and, where possible counted, by both sound and sight.