UNSW Aerial Survey Waterbirds 1983-2019 1a.csv

The Australian Aerial Waterbird Surveys (AWS) database stores temporal and spatial waterbird data on individual species, their breeding status and estimates of wetland area, collected during annual aerial surveys, extending back to 1983. The core methodology for these surveys has remained the same. The database includes three principal survey programs: The Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey, the National Waterbird Survey and surveys of the major wetland sites in the Murray-Darling Basin. Since 1983, the Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey has covered about a third of the continent each October, representing one of the larger and longer running biodiversity surveys in Australia, sampling wetland and waterbird communities across 2.7 million km2 of eastern Australia. In 2008, we did aerial surveys over most large wetlands across Australia during a period of two months. Since 2010, we have comprehensively surveyed all the major wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin.<br>Waterbirds (including nests and broods) were counted from high-winged aircraft (e.g. Cessna 206) at 167–204 km hr-1 and a height of 30–46 m, within 150 m of the wetland‘s shoreline where waterbirds concentrated. A front-right observer (navigator) and a back-left observer independently record counts on audio recorders, with their combined counts making up a completed count. Counts are attributed on the recorder to a unique number for each wetland, and a geolocation, as well as the time of day the survey commenced. Also, the percent fullness (inundated area) of each wetland is estimated, relative to the mapped high water mark. All waterbirds are identified to species except those that cannot be consistently identified to species’ level from the air and were grouped: small grebes, small egrets, terns and small and large migratory wading birds (Charadriformes).<br>

澳大利亚航空水鸟调查（Australian Aerial Waterbird Surveys, AWS）数据库存储了自1983年起开展的年度航空调查所收集的各类单个物种水鸟的时空数据、繁殖状态及湿地面积估算值，该系列调查的核心方法始终保持一致。该数据库包含三项核心调查计划：东澳大利亚水鸟调查、全国水鸟调查，以及墨累-达令流域主要湿地调查。自1983年以来，东澳大利亚水鸟调查于每年10月覆盖澳大利亚大陆约三分之一的区域，是澳大利亚规模较大且持续时间最长的生物多样性调查项目之一，在270万平方公里的澳大利亚东部区域对湿地与水鸟群落开展采样监测。2008年，项目组在两个月的周期内对澳大利亚境内绝大多数大型湿地实施了航空调查。自2010年起，项目组已对墨累-达令流域的所有主要湿地完成全面调查。
调查过程中，研究人员以167-204公里/小时的飞行速度、30-46米的飞行高度，在水鸟聚集的湿地岸线周边150米范围内，搭乘高翼飞行器（如塞斯纳206型飞机）对水鸟（包括鸟巢与雏鸟群）进行计数。由前右座观察员（领航员）与后左座观察员分别通过音频记录仪独立记录计数结果，二者的合计数值即为最终有效计数。记录仪会为每个湿地分配唯一编号，并同步记录该区域的地理坐标以及调查开始的当日时刻。同时，研究人员参照绘制的高水位线，估算每个湿地的充水百分比（即淹没面积占比）。除无法通过空中观测稳定区分至物种级别的类群外，所有水鸟均鉴定至物种水平；此类无法精准鉴定的类群被划分为：小型䴙䴘、小型鹭类、燕鸥类以及小型和大型迁徙涉禽（鸻形目，Charadriformes）。