Monitoring of breeding birds in Umbria, Central Italy,between 2000 and 2005
Velatta F., Lombardi G.2, Sergiacomi U.Abstract:
Common species of birds breeding in Umbria were monitored from 2000 to 2005 by means of an annual repeated survey of 1574 point-counts scattered across the whole region. 20 points were placed in each 10x10 km UTM grid unit, located 1 km apart from each other along low traffc roads, crossing the most representative environments. We obtained yearly population indices for 67 species and examined population trends; in order to avoid possible frst-time effects, we performed all the analyses omitting the frst year. Furthermore we calculated multi-species indicators for species associated with farmland and woodland habitat, taking the geometric means of annual specifc population indices. 42 % of the species for which trends could be produced have declined during the years 2001 to 2005, whilst only 28 % have increased. Multi-species indicators seem to show a better situation for farmland than for woodland birds.