Lower Jinsha Valley bird study
- Authors: Wright, Wendy , Federation University Australia
- Date: 2011-2013
- Type: Text , Technical report
- Full Text: false
- Description: This study represents a systematic bird survey in part of the Lower Jinsha Valley, in Western China. The intention of the study is to document the bird fauna of the area before it undergoes significant environmental transformation. The study area will be affected by the construction of a series of large hydropower dams along the Jinsha (Yangtze) River. Flooding of the valleys in this area will be to an elevation of 825m and will result in the inundation of substantial areas of farmland and much of the current sparse and poor quality forest habitat in Ningnan County (Sichuan Province) and Qiaojia County (Yunnan Province). Bird searches were conducted at 15 locations (5 in forest, 5 in farmland, 5 in Leucaena plantation) during two survey periods: Winter 2012: Nov-Dec 2012 (six field days: 30/11 – 7/12) (survey period 3) Summer 2013 June 2013 (seven field days 6/6 – 12/6) (survey period 4) Two visits were made to each location during each study period. One visit occurred during the morning and involved a timed transect search plus a list building search. The other visit occurred during the afternoon and involved a list building search only. The timed transect search involved noting birds seen along the 100m transect during a 20min search period. No recorded calls were used to attract birds during the timed transect search, which always occurred prior to the list building search. List building searches were conducted in the interests of maximizing the opportunity to identify species present at each location. Each list building search involved an initial broadcast playback of the call of Collared Owlet (Glaucidium brodiei) followed by identification of birds seen or heard, including birds responding to the call of the owlet. Collared Owlet is a small owl, which sometimes hunts diurnally. It is commonly mobbed by small songbirds (Mackinnon and Phillips, 2010). Where necessary, previously recorded calls of particular bird species were used to encourage birds to respond and therefore confirm identification. In some cases, calling birds were recorded in situ and these calls were immediately played back in order to encourage a response and allow visual identification. All birds clearly identified visually or by their call were recorded, including birds of prey seen flying overhead or in nearby valleys. Birds seen on roadsides during transit between locations were noted separately and are included in the bird list for the survey period, but not included in analyses. The visualisation of the survey data is part of an interoperable web-GIS maintained by the Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation(CeRDI) at Federation University Australia (FedUni).
Visualising Victoria’s Groundwater
- Authors: Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation (CeRDI) , Federation University Australia , Dahlhaus, Peter , McKenna, Kirsten , MacLeod, Andrew
- Date: 2012-
- Type: Text , Technical report
- Full Text: false
- Description: Visualising Victoria’s Groundwater (VVG) is an interoperative web-GIS maintained by Federation University Australia that federates groundwater data from disparate sources to assist groundwater researchers and help water managers make the correct choices for the sustainable use of a precious resource. The Visualising Victoria's Groundwater web-portal currently displays data for all of Victoria from the following sources: • Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) • Water Measurement Information System (WMIS) - formerly GMS • Victorian Aquifer Framework (VAF) • Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (EcoDev) • Seamless Geology • Geological Exploration and Development Information System (GEDIS) • Salinity bore database from Future Farming Systems Research (FFSR) • Federation University Australia (FedUni) • Groundwater research bores and other bores not recorded elsewhere (UB Spatial/FedUni Spatial) • Victorian Mineral Water Committee (VMWC) • Victorian Mineral Springs database (VMSD) • Environmental Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) • Certificates and statements of environmental audit (EPA audit reports) • Groundwater quality restricted use zones (GQRUZs) in Victoria • Priority Sites Register (PSR) for Victoria The quality of the bore data varies greatly. Note that bore records may be duplicated in the databases or between the databases, the locations may be wrong, data may be missing and sometimes data may be wrong. For this reason, the emphasis in the data collection has been to refer each record to its original source and link to the original source material where available. Over time it is proposed to edit each individual bore in the database to verify and clean the data where possible. As a general rule, bores in the State Observation Bore network (SOBN) within the WMIS, groundwater research bores managed by the University and the Mineral Springs have the most complete and accurate data. Key features of the VVG portal are: