Citizen science data-backed study reveals widespread decline in India's birds
The State of India's Birds 2023 report, produced by a consortium of leading research institutions and conservation organisations, assesses the status of 942 bird species using data contributed by thousands of birdwatchers through the eBird citizen science platform.
According to the report, 204 species have suffered long-term decline, and 142 are currently declining.
'Our findings reveal a sobering truth — India's diverse bird populations are facing significant decline, underscoring an urgent need for concerted conservation efforts,' said Vivek Ramachandran, Fellow, Wildlife Biology and Conservation Programme at NCBS, and an author of the study.
Alarming trends
The report represents one of the largest biodiversity monitoring efforts in the global south. It classified 178 species as 'high conservation priority', 323 as 'moderate priority', and 441 as 'low priority.'
Birds with specialised diets, such as those feeding on vertebrate prey, carrion, or invertebrates, have declined the most, averaging over 25% long-term population loss. In contrast, species dependent on fruits or nectar have remained stable or even increased.
Habitat specialists from grasslands, scrublands, and wetlands have experienced the steepest declines. Winter migrants to India have also declined more sharply than resident species, raising further alarm.
Innovations in data handling
According to a communique from NCBS, one of the main challenges of using eBird data is the variable effort put in by citizen scientists. Rather than standardising birding duration or distance, the team standardised analyses based on the number of species reported per checklist, which improved the comparability of data.
All the software and analytical methods developed for the project are open source, allowing researchers worldwide to build upon them.
'The analysis leveraged citizen science data from the eBird platform and developed a robust methodology to clean, organise, and analyse this semi-structured data to overcome biases. This framework allowed for the assessment of a larger number of bird species than previously possible and is intended to serve as a blueprint for regions with limited resources for traditional surveys,' said Mr. Ramachandran.
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