Insights from long-term shorebird monitoring for tracking change in ecological character of Australasian Ramsar sites. (August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hansen, Birgita D.; Szabo, Judit K.; Fuller, Richard A.; Clemens, Robert S.; Rogers, Danny I.; Milton, David A.
• Is Part Of: Biological conservation. Volume 260(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-08
• Subjects: Citizen science -- FAIR data -- Limits of Acceptable Change -- Migratory shorebirds -- Population monitoring -- Ramsar Sites Information Service -- Wetland management; Conservation of natural resources -- Periodicals; Nature conservation -- Periodicals; Ecology -- Periodicals; Environment -- Periodicals; Environmental Pollution -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 333.9516
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109189
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0006-3207

Abstract

Abstract: The Ramsar Convention is the centrepiece of international efforts for wetland conservation, aiming to maintain the ecological character of wetlands through holistic ecosystem management. Here, we review studies on shorebird populations at individual Australasian Ramsar sites and compare these against original listings under Criterion 6 to determine if there have been potential changes in ecological character. One to 12 migratory shorebird species have declined at four New Zealand and 18 Australian Ramsar sites over a 12 to 36-year period, resulting in 22 species (at 13 sites) no longer reaching Criterion 6 thresholds for Ramsar designation. In addition, 10 species at six Australian sites had exceeded the Limits of Acceptable Change. Despite these concerning results, there were remarkably few published site-based determinations of listed shorebird species' trends (and even fewer that were ≤5 years old). This is especially surprising since shorebird populations are regularly monitored at 27 out of 35 Australasian Ramsar sites (listed on the basis of one or more shorebird species). Thus, despite the volume of data available for analysis, long-term shorebird monitoring provides only limited insights about Ramsar ecological character. The value of these data would be greatly enhanced through complementary monitoring of other ecological characters at sites, particularly where shorebird populations provide early warning signs of potential deterioration. The main impediment to achieving a good understanding of how Ramsar sites are changing in Australasia appears to be a lack of analysis and centralised system for data and analytics, rather than a lack of monitoring data. Graphical abstract: Unlabelled Image Highlights: There are 35 Australasian Ramsar wetlands originally nominated on the basis of one or more shorebird species under Criterion 6 A review of shorebird monitoring data demonstrated that more species were declining than increasing across many wetlands Twenty-two species at 13 Ramsar wetlands no longer reach the threshold for Ramsar designation under Criterion 6 There was a surprising lack of published site-based information for shorebirds despite available data for many wetlands A lack of analysis rather than a lack of data hinders developing a better understanding of Ramsar ecological character