Monitoring the relative abundance of bird and mammal species at Alert, Nunavut

Numbers of all species occurring during daily activities are recorded. Counts occur regularly at some locations (e.g., sewage outfall stream), and are also recorded during visits to other locations in the Alert area. Numbers of each species as well as start and end times of observations are recorded to enable relative abundance of species to be calculated as the number of individuals seen per hour spent in the field per observer. To correct for any potential biases the activities and mode of transportation of observers is also taken into account. We also monitor the nests of bird species that are not part of our long-term monitoring, species such as Arctic Tern, Glaucous Gull, King Eider, Long-tailed Duck, Red-throated Loon, Rock Ptarmigan and Snow Bunting.