Description
The summer and winter point count routes (“punktrutterna”) are two of several schemes within the Swedish Bird Survey (see below), run by the Department of Biology at Lund University. The point count routes were initiated in 1975 as a standardised method for detecting and reporting changes in the abundance of birds and their distributions in Sweden over time. The point count routes can be surveyed in summer and/or winter.
The surveys are initiated and carried out by volunteer ornithologists who use standardised methods to count birds along routes of their own choice.
More than 3100 point count routes have been surveyed at least once up to and including the year 2023, and approximately 1200 of these have been surveyed during the summer. The dataset presented here is for the summer point count routes.
In this dataset, some information is placed in the table ExtendedMeasurementOrFacts (eMoF), which is part of the Source Archive available to download directly from the dataset’s page here on gbif.org. The Source Archive contains the data exactly as uploaded to gbif (verbatim). Should you choose to download the dataset as GBIF Annotated Archive instead, the data has been interpreted and quality controlled by gbif, but, the data in the eMoF will not be included as the eMoF extension is not yet supported by gbif.
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 10,824 records.
2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Lindström Å, Green M, Jönsson A (2024). Swedish Bird Survey: Summer point count routes (Sommarpunktrutterna). Version 1.7. Department of Biology, Lund University. Samplingevent dataset. https://www.gbif.se/ipt/resource?r=lu_sft_spkt&v=1.7
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Department of Biology, Lund University. To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 7059595f-0e00-4bd6-bfa9-8869dd6b6096. Department of Biology, Lund University publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Sweden.
Keywords
Samplingevent; Samplingevent
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5597-6209
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Metadata Provider
Geographic Coverage
All data is collected within Sweden.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [55.336, 10.957], North East [69.06, 24.167] |
|---|
Taxonomic Coverage
All bird species in Sweden occurring naturally in the wild are included in the survey. Species with a security class 4 or higher (according to the Swedish species information centre (Artdatabanken)) are not shown in this dataset at present. Currently these species are: Black stork (svart stork; Ciconia nigra), Lesser white-fronted goose (fjällgås; Anser erythropus), Golden eagle (kungsörn; Aquila chrysaetos), Spotted eagle (större skrikörn; Clanga clanga), White-tailed eagle (havsörn; Haliaeetus albicilla), Pallid harrier (stäpphök; Circus macrourus), Montagu’s harrier (ängshök; Circus pygargus), Peregrine falcon (pilgrimsfalk; Falco peregrinus), Gyrfalcon (jaktfalk; Falco rusticolus), Eagle owl (berguv; Bubo bubo), and White-backed woodpecker (vitryggig hackspett; Dendrocopos leucotos).
| Kingdom | Animalia (Animals) |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Chordata (Chordates) |
| Class | Aves (Birds) |
Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 1975-04-12 / 2023-07-06 |
|---|
Project Data
The Swedish Bird Survey (Svensk Fågeltaxering) is a subprogramme within national environmental monitoring in Sweden. The Swedish Bird Survey is run by the Department of Biology at Lund University. It includes several survey schemes: fixed routes (standardrutter), summer and winter point count routes (sommar- och vinterpunktrutter), night routes (nattrutter), the Swedish waterfowl count (Sjöfågel höst och vinter), and the Swedish coastal bird monitoring programme (Nationella kustfågelövervakningen). The work is carried out in collaboration with, and is supported by, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the County Administrative Boards. The Swedish Bird Survey is the Swedish representative in the European Bird Census Council (EBCC). All the survey schemes mentioned above serve to monitor changes in the Swedish bird populations. Since 1975, experienced and competent ornithologists volunteer to count birds in more than a thousand locations across Sweden, at different times of the year. Since the surveys are carried out in the same way each year, the outcome can be compared between years and hence changes detected.
| Title | Swedish Bird Survey (Svensk Fågeltaxering) |
|---|---|
| Funding | The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency supports the Swedish Bird Survey. Most of the County Administrative Boards fund some of the survey schemes at a regional scale. |
| Study Area Description | Sweden |
| Design Description | See the project website (www.fageltaxering.lu.se, in Swedish) for descriptions of the individual survey schemes. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
Summer point count routes consist of 20 separate positions (points), situated at least 200 m apart in dense forest and at least 300 m apart in open terrain, to minimize the risk of double-counting. Birds are counted while the surveyor is standing still for 5 minutes at each point. All birds seen or heard shall be registered no matter how near or far from the point they are. Only birds identified to species shall be included, except crossbills that may (when necessary) be registered at the genus level. The surveyor’s method of transport between points is also registered (on foot, by bike or moped, by car or motorcycle, other).
| Study Extent | Geography: The summer point count routes are distributed across the whole of Sweden, and there are routes present in all of the 21 Swedish counties. However, the routes are concentrated to the more populated southern half of the country. Point count routes are personal and the position of the route (and the 20 individual points) is determined by the surveyor who initiates it (a so called “free choice” monitoring scheme). Timing and frequency: The summer survey should ideally be carried out once per year and in the main breeding season for the majority of species (April-June). The current data contains routes counted from April to mid-July. A route does not have to be surveyed every year. It should ideally be surveyed +/- 5 days from the first survey date, start at the same time of day +/- 30 minutes, and the 20 points should be counted in the same order. Since the routes are (in the vast majority of cases) personal, they are no longer counted once the surveyor stops counting this particular route. Following the same principle, new routes are initiated. |
|---|---|
| Quality Control | Data is checked and validated by the project leaders, specifically species identity, numbers and geographical location. Confidence in the data is good. |
Method step description:
- See sampling description.
Bibliographic Citations
- Lindström, Å., Svensson, S., Green, M. & Ottvall, R. 2007. Distribution and population changes of two subspecies of Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita in Sweden. – Ornis Svecica 17: 137–147.
- Ottvall, R., Edenius, L., Elmberg, J., Engström, H., Green, M., Holmqvist, N., Lindström, Å., Tjernberg, M. & Pärt, T. 2009. Population trends for Swedish breeding birds. – Ornis Svecica 19:117–192.
- Lindström, Å., Green, M., Paulson, G., Smith, H.G. & Devictor, V. 2013. Rapid changes in bird community composition at multiple spatial scales in response to recent climate change. – Ecography 36:313–322.
- Heldbjerg, H. et al 2019. Contrasting population trends of Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) across Europe. – Ornis Fennica 96:153–168.
Additional Metadata
Important information for potential users of the Summer point count route data: 1) The data shown in this Darwin core archive are, for each bird species, the sum total of all individuals on all the points during this visit. 2) Null visits and zero observations: Users of the data have to construct zero data for each species themselves. The occurrence table contains observations of species that were actually present at the surveyed sites, but the surveyor would have looked for all species that are included in the survey design. For visits to sites where no observations were made at all (when such null visits exist), the occurrence table also includes one zero observation with vernacularName set to "SpeciesIncludedInSurvey", and occurrenceStatus set to "Absent". This is to ensure that information about surveyor is included in the DwC-A also for these events. Additionally, information about whether a visit is a nullvisit (i.e. true = no survey species observed) or not (i.e. false = one or more survey species were observed) is included in the ”extended measurement or fact table”. 3) The design of the survey program relies on each surveyor choosing his or her own route to count birds on. This means there is some overlap between some routes, both geographically and timewise. For the majority of routes, especially older ones, the only geographic information available about the route’s location are the midpoint coordinates of the 25 x 25 km square within which most of the points are located (supplied in the dataset). For this reason, it is impossible to know the exact amount of overlap. The exact position are known from a few very old routes, but not until the early 2000s were the positions of all 20 points asked for (also retrospectively). Since around 2005, coordinates for each of the 20 points are requested from the surveyor for all new routes. These are at present not supplied in the dataset, but are available upon request from the data provider. The original design also relies on data from a particular route being entirely comparable between years, i.e. all data collected on a route is collected by the same person. Hence, in the few cases where a route has been taken over by a new surveyor, the route has been given a new id. 4) Habitat data: As part of the original survey program design in 1975, surveyor were asked to register the amount of different habitats at each of the twenty points on the route. This information was regularly updated for some routes but not for others. Since around 2015 requesting this information stopped and instead coordinates for each of the twenty points were requested. This enables a potential user of the data to extract habitat data from a source of their own choice. But point coordinates are not available for all routes (see above), and never will be for those where the surveyor did not, or can no longer, supply the information. The habitat data is available upon request from the data provider. 5) Breeding vs migrating birds: The surveyor is expected to report all birds seen or heard. This survey is carried out at the time of year when most birds have just started breeding. One can therefore assume that the very majority of birds that are registered are actually breeding, or attempting to breed, in the location where they were registered. There are however some notable exceptions. Some of the species registered do not breed in Sweden, and are instead migrating individuals; for example Brent Goose (prutgås), Greater White-fronted Goose (bläsgås) and Grey Plover (kustpipare). For some species breeding in the far north of Sweden, individuals are seen further south as they are on their way to or from the breeding grounds. Examples of such species are Bar-tailed Godwit (myrspov), Spotted Redshank (fläckig svartsnäppa) and Wood Sandpiper (grönbena). There are also reports of uncommon species that are yet to be confirmed as breeding in Sweden, but where it is possible that the individual registered was actually breeding at the location. Regardless of which of the described situations applies, all data is included in the dataset, and it is the user’s responsibility to decide how to use the data. 6) Adults vs young of the year: Ideally the surveyor should focus on adult birds but if young birds were counted from the start the surveyor should continue to include them, to make the data within a route comparable. Some birds start breeding early enough for the young to have left the nest at the time of the survey. These young of the year are not normally included in the numbers reported, but for some species it cannot be ruled out that some are indeed included. For the three Loxia species, breeding already in late winter, young of the year definitely constitute a large part of the birds registered.
| Purpose | National environmental monitoring of birds. |
|---|---|
| Maintenance Description | New data are added to the dataset yearly when the survey of that year is completed and data has been quality checked. In between these yearly updates the data is corrected as required. |
| Alternative Identifiers | 7059595f-0e00-4bd6-bfa9-8869dd6b6096 |
| https://www.gbif.se/ipt/resource?r=lu_sft_spkt |