DOI: 10.5061/dryad.zpc866t8g
title: Kerala Bird Atlas 2015-2020: features, outcomes and implications of a citizen-science project

description: Citizen-science driven exercises (e.g., bird surveys) and online platforms
 (e.g., eBird) provide voluminous data on bird occurrence but the data
 quality is often compromised. Bird atlases are based on standardized
 surveys and describe the distribution of bird species over a predefined
 region and have less biases, and thus are better suited for use in
 research. The recently concluded Kerala Bird Atlas (henceforth KBA) is
 Asia’s largest bird atlas in terms of geographical extent, sampling effort
 and species coverage. The entire state of Kerala was systematically
 surveyed twice a year during 2015–2020 and over 0.3 million records of 380
 species from 25,000 checklists were aggregated. The dataset was filtered
 and various metrics were estimated. A few cells could not be surveyed due
 to logistical constraints or when they fell outside the state boundary.
 This variation in sampling effort had a minimal effect on survey
 completeness; the slope of the species accumulation curve suggests
 near-complete species sampling in over 70% of the cells. After eliminating
 nocturnal and pelagic species, in total 361 species were analyzed. Species
 count was higher in the dry season (Jan.–Mar.) than in the wet season
 (Jul.–Sep.). Species richness (count) and evenness were higher in the
 northern and central districts than in the southern districts. High
 elevation regions of the southern Western Ghats were the largest
 contiguous areas lacking sufficient sampling. Although most of the
 endemics were concentrated in the Western Ghats, threatened species were
 as likely to occur along the coasts as in the Ghats. The KBA dataset is a
 valuable resource for testing various ecological hypotheses and suggesting
 science-backed conservation measures. The Kerala Bird Atlas model could be
 replicated for similar atlases in other states or biogeographic regions of
 India.
description: The state of Kerala was divided into cells of size 3.75 minutes x
 3.75 minutes (equivalent to 6.6 km x 6.6 km) aligned to Survey of India
 maps. A total of 1,096 cells were laid out covering the entire state. Each
 cell was further divided into four quadrants of size 3.3 km x 3.3 km. Each
 quadrant was then sub-divided into 9 sub-cells of size 1.1 km x 1.1 km. A
 single, randomly selected sub-cell in every quadrant was chosen for the
 survey. Field surveys were conducted from 2015 to 2020 twice a year,
 during dry (mid-Jan. to mid-Mar.) and wet (mid-July to mid-Sep.) seasons,
 exactly for 60 days in each season per year. Survey teams consisted of 2–5
 volunteers,<b> </b>every bird species seen or heard during the
 15-minute sampling session was noted.<b> </b>Volunteers
 uploaded checklists from the surveyed sub-cells to eBird, using the
 website or the app, and this data was later downloaded for
 analysis.<b> </b>
description: This dataset consists of three input files (.RDS), one shape file
 (.shp) and one R script file (.R) for the analyses performed using the
 Kerala Bird Atlas: 2015-2020 dataset. <br> These files are part of
 the publication "Kerala Bird Atlas 2015-2020: features, outcomes and
 implications of a citizen-science Project". There are no usage
 restrictions for this dataset except that all usages should provide an
 attribution as below Kerala Bird Atlas Dataset (2021)
 Website Link. Accessed on DD Month Year The outputs of
 this script are in the forms of shapefiles (.shp) and the attribute table
 contains the measured metrics. This shapefile can be
 opened in QGIS/ArcGIS and the particular metric can be plotted.<br>
 In the script, only wet season data has been analyzed and the shapefiles
 have been generated. <br> Dry season data can be analyzed by
 changing the word 'wet' to 'Dry' in the script and
 re-running the script. The figures generated in the R
 platform were exported in svg format and annotated in Inkscape
 software. The Cell IDs, Sub-cell IDs and List IDs of
 Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis) records have not been provided since it
 is a sensitive species
 (https://ebird.org/india/news/ebird-sensitive-species). District names
 have been retained. Users interested in analyzing KBA records of Great
 Hornbill from any region (across Kerala or any district) may obtain the
 occurrence data from eBird by following due procedure for sensitive
 species (https://ebird.org/data/download/ebd), and get in touch with us
 for further assistance. Contact:<br> Dr. P.O.
 Nameer, <br> Professor (Wildlife), <br> Kerala Agricultural
 University, Thrissur<br> nameer.po@kau.in<br>