DOI: 10.25911/5c3d527f8defb
title: Desert Uplands Plot Network: Bird Count Data, Northern Queensland, Australia, 2006 - 2016
title: Desert Uplands Plot Network: Bird Counts, 2006+

description: The Desert Uplands Plot Network Bird Count Data contains bird fauna data collected at 60 1-hectare plots spanning 2006 to 2016. This is part of a larger dataset that spans from 2004 to 2016. The CSIRO permanent plots are situated in Tropical Ironbark Woodlands, and extend across four leasehold cattle properties that lie within an area approximately 50 km by 50 km. 

The plots represent three vegetation management strategies, namely: 
1) clearing (where all trees and shrubs are removed); 
2) thinning (where ground and midstorey vegetation is removed); and 
3) unmodiﬁed native woodlands where signiﬁcant thinning or clearing has not occurred. 

Within each 1 ha site, eight five-minute diurnal bird counts are conducted over a four day period. Two counts are completed per day at each site: one count in the morning within three hours of sunrise and the other a minimum of three hours after this period and before sunset.<br><br>The Desert Uplands research plots commenced in 2004, and have been revisited in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2014 and 2016.

A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Desert Uplands Plot Network’s full program is provided at https://doi.org/10.25911/5c343f9e98336.
description: Abstract: The Desert Uplands Plot Network Bird Count Data contains bird fauna data collected at 60 1-hectare plots spanning 2006 to 2016. This is part of a larger dataset that spans from 2004 to 2016. The CSIRO permanent plots are situated in Tropical Ironbark Woodlands, and extend across four leasehold cattle properties that lie within an area approximately 50 km by 50 km. 

The plots represent three vegetation management strategies, namely: 
1) clearing (where all trees and shrubs are removed); 
2) thinning (where ground and midstorey vegetation is removed); and 
3) unmodiﬁed native woodlands where signiﬁcant thinning or clearing has not occurred. 

Within each 1 ha site, eight five-minute diurnal bird counts are conducted over a four day period. Two counts are completed per day at each site: one count in the morning within three hours of sunrise and the other a minimum of three hours after this period and before sunset.<br><br>The Desert Uplands research plots commenced in 2004, and have been revisited in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2014 and 2016.

A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Desert Uplands Plot Network’s full program is provided at https://doi.org/10.25911/5c343f9e98336.

Sampling method: The speciﬁc location of the 1 ha survey sites were selected on the basis that they were situated in large contiguous areas that were considered typical or characteristic of the respective vegetation management strategy. Within each property, sites are generally a minimum of 1 km apart but may be within 500 m of one another in some cases. At the property scale, sites are spread across a 10-15 km radius on each property.

Sites are located a minimum of 500 m from any water point, commonly 50-100 m from the nearest access track and that the demarcation used for site selection within the “Unmodiﬁed vegetation management” class (30-45% vs. 45-60% canopy cover), was made using crown canopy mapping based on 1996 1:250 000 aerial photography. 

Sites are broadly situated within the same broad Ironbark woodland community (Eucalyptus whitei, E. melanophloia). Two Queensland land zones are mapped across the four properties with sandy plains and alluvial systems each represented by two properties. One of the leaseholders (with ﬁve thinned and ﬁve unmodiﬁed sites), withdrew from the study following the July 2008 survey leaving 50 sites distributed across three leasehold properties remaining in the study.

Study extent: These plots have been visited six times so far – June 2004, May 2005, August 2006, July 2008, June-July 2013, October 2014 and May-August 2016. The 10 KALL sites were not surveyed post-2008.

Project funding: Between 2012 and 2018 this project was part of, and funded through the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) a facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.