Avifaunistic monitoring, test surfaces with area mapping, 1990

In the project “Avimonitoring in the Canton of Zurich”, the Department of Nature Conservation Canton of Zurich works closely with the Zurich Bird Protection (ZVS) and its dozens of volunteers (contractors) and the company Orniplan (coordination, data processing, evaluation). The aim of the project is to monitor the stock of the avifauna in the canton of Zurich over a period of ten years with standardised recording methods as a basis for the direct monitoring of the success of nature conservation measures. Short- and medium-term changes in the population of birds can be documented and their causes can be investigated. The monitoring programme also serves to reliably assess the environmental status, because different bird species are good bioindicators due to their specific habitat requirements. The mapping of breeding bird areas in 20 selected areas of a total size of 1’278 ha is evaluated with the help of the GIS. 8 of the areas under investigation are planned for upgrading measures in the sense of nature conservation, 4 areas are in the area of planned or already completed meliorations, while no measures are planned for the remaining 8 areas (control areas).