Desert Uplands Plot Network

The Desert Uplands long-term bird monitoring plots were established to investigate the effects of different woodland management strategies on bird communities in the Desert Uplands. There is fairly widespread belief among graziers that woodland "thickening" is bad, not just for grazing enterprises, but also for bird communities. Often, birds become more obvious to graziers when areas are highly disturbed or cleared and this may lead to the perception that clearing and grazing are good for bird biodiversity. However, many of the species that are noticed by graziers are common, "disturbance increasers", that is, they benefit from clearing and other activities associated with grazing such as the creation of water points. Examples include species like Galahs, Yellow-throated Miners and Crested Pigeons. Small forest birds, on the other hand, may be disadvantaged by clearing or thinning activities. The primary aim of the Desert Uplands long-term bird monitoring plots is to examine how bird communities change with time since clearing and thinning activities.