Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua

Landcare-Research -Manaaki Whenua

What to monitor

What should you measure to best achieve your purpose?

Hedge Sparrow. Image - Kev Drew

  1. Identify your target.

    Clearly define your target bird population, species or community. Community measures can be calculated for all species or subsets of species of interest (e.g. different taxonomic groups or feeding guilds). These are useful for assessing the structure and function of bird communities and the impacts of management on a variety of species.

  2. Specify metrics of interest.

    Determine what characteristics of your target population, species or community you are interested in. For example, do you want to know how many sites are occupied by a given species or the number of individuals of that species?

  3. Determine assessment required.

    Do you need a snapshot assessment that measures the status of a population, species or community at a given point in time or do you need to assess change over time?

  4. Define your study area.

    Determine the area you want your study to inform. Are you interested in a particular study site, a network of study sites, or do you want to inform regional or national scales?

  5. Define time frame of interest.

    Determine the time periods are you interested in. Do you need to measure seasonal, annual or decadal patterns or changes?