4 – The extent and adequacy of monitoring for Australian threatened bird species^45threatened seabirds was assessed separately for those that breed on Australian
territory and those visiting Australian waters from other sites.
The quality of monitoring of each threatened bird taxon was first scored on a
six-point scale against the nine metrics outlined in Chapter 2: fit-for-purpose,
coverage, sampling periodicity, longevity, design quality, coordination, data
availability and reporting, management linkage and demographic parameters. For
consistency across taxa, all scoring was done by a single researcher (STG) on the
basis of personal knowledge of each project and available documentation. The
incidence of any monitoring at all, and the average monitoring scores (for taxa with
some monitoring) were collated across the nine metrics.
The inf luence of 11 variables on the incidence of monitoring, and the quality of
monitoring was investigated: Australian IUCN Red List threat category, EPBC
status, taxonomic level, population size, range, geography, taxonomic group,
variability, detectability, site accessibility and recovery planning. IUCN status and
EPBC status were too similar to analyse independently so IUCN Red List status
was used in the analysis because this status assessment is generally more current
than EPBC and covers Near Threatened as well as threatened taxa. Under
taxonomic level, consideration was given to whether species were more likely to be
monitored than subspecies. Population size was largely estimated from Garnett et
al. (2011) and range from Garnett et al. (2013). Island bird taxa are particularly
prone to extinction (Szabo et al. 2012a) so might warrant focused monitoring
attention. In terms of geography, taxa were scored as occurring on oceanic islands
if breeding only on Heard, Macquarie, Christmas, Cocos (Keeling), Lord Howe or
Norfolk Islands, and on continental islands if breeding only on islands on
Australia’s continental shelf (Tasmania, King, Flinders, Tiwi, Kangaroo,
Archipelago of the Recherche, Houtman Abrolhos, Dorre, Bernier, Dirk Hartog,
Barrow, Boigu, Saibai and numerous small islands off eastern Australia supporting
breeding seabirds). Other taxa were classified as either mainland (i.e. breeding on
continental Australia, including breeding migrants), or non-breeding migrants.
Some taxonomic groups are more likely to be threatened than others or
generally have more severe status trajectories (Szabo et al. 2012b), which may
have increased the likelihood and adequacy of monitoring. Seabirds, shorebirds
and parrots were therefore assessed separately along with passerines and other
non-passerines.
Taxa that f luctuate greatly in abundance and distribution are likely to be more
difficult to monitor than those for which numbers and locality are more stable.
Variability – the ‘natural’ change in the number of mature individuals and/or area
of occupancy in three generations, using the median as a baseline (IUCN
Standards and Petitions Subcommittee 2016) – was assessed against 10 criteria
ranging from <5% per annum to >100%. Because it was rarely possible to place a
taxon exactly in any category, a fuzzy number was derived by estimating the lowest