Project goal: To study the patterns in bird species diversity, abundance and distribution over time and space, and the processes behind these patterns as a result of urbanization.

The ongoing project (since October 2000) is documenting the abundance and distribution of birds in four habitats (51 sites): Urban (18) Desert (15) Riparian (11) and agricultural (7). The 40 non-riparian sites are a subset of the CAP LTER Survey200 points. We are using point counts to survey birds four times a year (January, April, July and October). During each session each point is visited by three birders who count all birds seen or heard for 15 minutes. Our goal is to study how different land-use forms affect bird abundance, distribution and diversity in the greater Phoenix area in order to predict and preserve high bird species diversity as urban development is proceeding.

This dataset documents only the spatial location of bird survey locations. For full project data, including results of bird surveys, and updated bird survey locations, please see: Bateman, Heather; Childers, Dan; Katti, Madhusudan; Shochat, Eyal; Warren, Paige (2016-12-16): Point-count bird censusing: long-term monitoring of bird abundance and diversity in central Arizona-Phoenix, ongoing since 2000. Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/cc7181cd38ce3a19e32708caebdf13de