The Fresno Bird Count is a long-term citizen science project that uses point count surveys at 460 sites in Fresno, California to study urban bird diversity and how it relates to socioeconomic and habitat variables. Volunteers have surveyed over 3,000 birds from 68 species over multiple years. Researchers are analyzing the data to better understand how factors like poverty, irrigation, vegetation cover influence bird species and guild richness in urban environments.

1. Fresno Bird Count - Citizen Madhusudan Katti
Fresno Bird Count
Science for a changing world Department of Biology,
California State University, Fresno
www.fresnobirds.org
23 January 2012, UC Davis Citizen Science Workshop
Monday, January 23, 12

2. Whither biodiversity in
an urbanizing world?
• More humans now live in cities
than ever before
• But we continue to look outside
cities for wildlife
• urban ecology remains a
relatively “new” discipline
• Urban areas are replacing not
only natural habitats, but also
other human landscapes such
as farmland
• Understanding what happens
to other species under
urbanization is therefore critical
Monday, January 23, 12

3. Challenges and Data Needs for Urban Ecology
• Urban habitats are highly variable
• many different land uses
• rapid changes over short distances
• need many sites for precision in data
• Many species of birds
• Measurements must be repeatable at
same sites over years
Monday, January 23, 12

4. Fresno Bird Count - Census Sites
Monday, January 23, 12

5. Fresno Bird Count - April 15-May 15:
Survey Design & Census Methodology
• 460 sites on a 1Km X 1Km grid
• each site located randomly within a single grid cell
• Grouped into 58 clusters (routes) of 7-8 sites each
• possible to cover all sites in a single morning
• Counts must be conducted within 4 hours after sunrise
• Point Count
• 5-minute duration
• count all birds seen & heard
• within a 40m-radius circle while standing at center point
• record number of individuals seen for each species
• supplementary observations - birds outside circle / time window
Monday, January 23, 12

6. Study Area & Sampling Design
Fresno Clovis Metropolitan Area (FCMA)
Fresno
Bird
Count
Study
Area
Madera
County
California Clovis
Fresno
County
Fresno
Fresno
County
FBC
site
Censused
in
2008
Habitat
surveyed
(N=460) (N=184) in
2008
(N=38)
B. Schleder, 2010. M.S. Thesis, California State University, Fresno
Monday, January 23, 12

7. Fresno Bird Count: Public Participants’ Perspective
• Volunteers include local birdwatchers, students, and faculty from CSU Fresno
• recruited via Fresno Audubon, county bird listserv, flyers on campus/in town
• Motivation for participation
• Interest in birds and the environment
• Concern for local water policy issues
• Academic interest (thesis, class project, etc.)
• What do they get out of it?
• we have only just begun to evaluate this systematically, but...
• most seem to enjoy the field work, bring friends along;
• are intrigued by results we have so far, judging by attendance at public talks and
response to articles in newsletters and blog posts.
• are likely to become more engaged in urban policy & management efforts.
Monday, January 23, 12

8. Bird Species Richness in the FCMA
• In 2008
• 186 points surveyed by 30
volunteers
• 68 bird species recorded
• 3,263 total birds
• Average species richness
per site 5.13 ± 0.16 SE
1"3$spp$ 3"6$spp$ 6"9$spp$ 9"12$spp$
B. Schleder, 2010. M.S. Thesis, California State University, Fresno
Monday, January 23, 12

9. Urban Long-Term Research Area
Fresno And Clovis Ecosocial Study
urban-faces.org
Monday, January 23, 12

10. One set of pathways examined
• Irrigation rate will be positively correlated to the socioeconomics of a
neighborhood.
• Vegetative cover will be partially correlated with an increase in irrigation.
• Bird species richness will be partially positively correlated with areas containing
increased vegetative cover.
• Foraging guild richness will be partially correlated to areas of higher irrigation.
B. Schleder, 2010. M.S. Thesis, California State University, Fresno
Monday, January 23, 12

11. Multivariate drivers of bird species richness
Relative performance of alternative models with human (socioeconomic/demographic/
behavioral) and ecological (cover, biotic/abiotic) variables to predict bird species richness.
Models with ∆AICc < 7 are shown (per: Burnham et al 2011).
No.
Model AICc ∆AICc R2
Param
% Bldg, (% Poverty*Irrigation) 2 156.85 3.26 0.293
% Bldg, (% Poverty*%Grass), (% Poverty*Irrigation) 3 154.32 0.73 0.383
% Bldg, (% Poverty*%Grass),
4 153.59 0 0.438
(% Poverty*Grass Height), (% Poverty*Irrigation)
% Grass, % Bldg, (% Poverty*%Grass),
5 154.54 0.95 0.46
(% Poverty*Grass Height), (% Poverty*Irrigation)
% Grass, % Bldg, Grass Height, (% Poverty*%Grass),
6 156.07 2.48 0.49
(% Poverty*Grass Height), (% Poverty*Irrigation)
Schleder 2010. MS Thesis.
Monday, January 23, 12

12. Poverty, irrigation, & bird diversity
• Residential irrigation decreased significantly with increased % poverty.
• Species Diversity: Multivariate results indicate that poverty has strong indirect
effects on bird species diversity through intermediate variables including irrigation,
% grass, % open canopy, and mean grass height.
• Guild Diversity: Poverty and Irrigation significantly affects bird guild diversity.
Multivariate results show that both poverty and irrigation have strong effects on
bird guild diversity through intermediate variables including mean grass height and
% grass.
B. Schleder, 2010. M.S. Thesis, California State University, Fresno
Monday, January 23, 12

13. Other pathways
being studied
• Same sampling scheme as FBC
• Tree Diversity and Habitat Cover
• Social Survey of individual
households (first round complete)
• Interviews of institutional actors (key
policy makers & implementers in
city govt; in progress)
• Land Use Land Cover (LULC)
analysis (preliminary)
Monday, January 23, 12

14. It takes a village to study the city...
• Citizen Scientists of the Fresno Bird Count!
• Graduate students: Bradley Schleder, Seth
Reid, Jenny Phillips, Pedro Garcia
• Paying the bills:
• Fresno Audubon Society
• Robert and Norma Craig Foundation
• CSU Fresno: Provost, College of Science
and Mathematics, Division of Graduate
Studies
• National Science Foundation & U.S. Forest
Service (ULTRA-Ex Award # 0949036)
• Tucson Bird Count, NiJeL for database
management
• City of Fresno, City of Clovis, Fresno County NiJeL
Monday, January 23, 12