Bird Survey Data, Far North Queensland Rainforest SuperSite, Robson Creek, 2012

This project is documenting the distribution of bird species and the structure of bird communities at the TERN 25 Ha Plot at Robson Creek. The advantage of using the Plot as a point of focus is that the mapping and plant community data provide a phenological and ecological context for interpreting drivers of the bird community at that site. The Robson Creek plot site was chosen because being situated at c. 700m it represents a ‘tension’ zone between different tropical forest communities that are likely to show shifts under climate change. Bird communities below 600-800m can be characterised as current lowland, warm climate communities while those above 600-800m take on species with upland distributions, e.g. golden bowerbireds. grey-headed robins and fernwrens. Robson Creek being situated at the current altitudinal boundaries of the distribution of the upland and lowland specialist species consequently represents an ideal site for monitoring the species and community responses to climate change over time. In this project we are interested in species and community responses to climate change in three contexts. First, at the species level we are interested in how individual species respond in abundance and seasonality. Second, at the community level we are interested in i) describing changes in species distribution, ii) the effects of this on community composition and structure and iii) how this varies through the year.

本项目旨在记录罗布森溪（Robson Creek）TERN 25公顷样地内的鸟类物种分布与鸟类群落结构。以该样地作为研究焦点的优势在于，植被制图与植物群落数据可为解析该地点鸟类群落的驱动因子提供物候学与生态学层面的研究背景。选择罗布森溪样地的原因在于，其海拔约700米，处于不同热带森林群落之间的“张力带（tension zone）”，而这些群落很可能在气候变化下发生分布偏移。海拔600-800米以下的鸟类群落可归类为现存的低地暖气候群落；而海拔600-800米以上的群落则包含具有山地分布特征的物种，例如金亭鸟（golden bowerbirds）、灰头知更鸟（grey-headed robins）与蕨鹩（fernwrens）。罗布森溪样地恰好处于山地与低地特化物种分布的当前海拔边界之上，因此是长期监测物种与群落对气候变化响应的理想研究地点。本项目将从三个维度探究物种与群落对气候变化的响应：其一，在物种层面，我们关注单个物种种群丰度与季节性活动的变化规律；其二，在群落层面，我们的研究内容包括：i）描述物种分布的变化；ii）此类变化对群落组成与结构的影响；iii）该影响随季节的动态变化。