Trends in monitoring of Australia’s threatened birds (1990–2020): much improved but still inadequate

Monitoring is vital to conservation, enabling conservation scientists to detect population declines, identify threats and measure the effectiveness of interventions. However, not all threatened taxa are monitored, monitoring quality is variable, and the various components of monitoring are likely to differ in their rates of improvement over time. We assessed the presence of monitoring and monitoring quality, using a range of metrics, for all Australia’s threatened bird taxa from 1990 to 2020 (four assessments spanning 30 years). We used our assessments to understand decadal trends in the number of taxa monitored; monitoring quality; and the groups that conduct monitoring. The monitoring of Australia’s threatened birds has increased substantially since 1990, from 19% of taxa to 75% in 2020. Monitoring quality has also improved, with 24.1% of taxa assessed overall as ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’ in 2020 (up from 4.8% in 1990). However, by 2020, most monitoring programmes still scored poorly for Data availability/reporting, Management linkage, Demographic data and Training/succession planning. In 2020, private individuals and governments accounted for 59% of monitoring contributions, with the greatest number of taxa monitored by private individuals (79 of 166 taxa assessed). Despite improvements in monitoring since 1990, only a minority of taxa had high-quality monitoring in the most recent assessment period. Monitoring is a powerful tool in conservation, justifying investment in improving how it is conducted. We draw on our results and examples of high-quality monitoring programmes to develop a set of priority actions to improve monitoring of Australia’s threatened birds. Although monitoring of Australia’s threatened birds has improved greatly over the last 30 years, most-threatened bird taxa still have inadequate monitoring and systemic changes are required to improve monitoring quality on the scale required.We recommend priority actions to improve monitoring including funding reforms, targeted improvements of poor performing monitoring components and actions to boost some of the current strengths in monitoring programmes.Private individuals conduct monitoring for more taxa than any other group, so boosting the quality of their monitoring is especially important. Although monitoring of Australia’s threatened birds has improved greatly over the last 30 years, most-threatened bird taxa still have inadequate monitoring and systemic changes are required to improve monitoring quality on the scale required. We recommend priority actions to improve monitoring including funding reforms, targeted improvements of poor performing monitoring components and actions to boost some of the current strengths in monitoring programmes. Private individuals conduct monitoring for more taxa than any other group, so boosting the quality of their monitoring is especially important.

监测是生物多样性保护的核心支撑手段，可助力保护科学家侦测种群衰退趋势、识别威胁因子，并评估保护干预措施的实施成效。然而，当前并非所有受威胁类群（threatened taxa）均得到有效监测，且监测质量参差不齐；此外，监测体系的各组成模块随时间推移的改善速率亦存在显著差异。本研究针对1990年至2020年的四次跨越30年的评估，采用多套评估指标，对澳大利亚所有受威胁鸟类类群（threatened bird taxa）的监测开展情况与监测质量进行了系统性评估。基于上述评估结果，本研究解析了受监测类群数量、监测质量以及监测实施主体的十年际变化趋势。自1990年以来，澳大利亚受威胁鸟类的监测覆盖率已大幅提升，从最初的19%升至2020年的75%。监测质量同样有所改善，2020年整体有24.1%的类群被评定为“良好”或“极佳”，远高于1990年的4.8%。但截至2020年，多数监测项目在数据可获取性与报告（Data availability/reporting）、管理关联（Management linkage）、种群统计数据（Demographic data）以及培训与继任规划（Training/succession planning）这四大维度仍表现不佳。2020年，私人个体与政府机构贡献了59%的监测工作总量，其中私人个体负责监测的类群数量最多，在所评估的166个类群中覆盖79个。尽管自1990年以来监测工作已有显著进展，但在最近一次评估周期中，仅少数类群拥有高质量的监测体系。监测是保护工作的核心工具，因此值得投入资源优化其实施模式。本研究结合本次评估结果与优质监测项目的实践案例，提出了一系列优先级行动方案，以改善澳大利亚受威胁鸟类的监测工作。尽管过去30年间澳大利亚受威胁鸟类的监测工作已有长足进步，但多数受威胁鸟类类群的监测仍存在显著不足，需通过系统性变革方能达到提升监测质量的必要规模。我们建议优先开展三类改进工作：一是推进资助机制改革，二是针对性优化表现不佳的监测模块，三是采取措施巩固当前监测项目中的优势环节。私人个体负责监测的类群数量多于其他任何主体，因此提升其监测质量尤为关键。