The Sonoran Joint Venture, PRBO Conservation Science, and the Mexican National Protected Areas Commission (CONANP) are collaborating on a new effort aimed and better understanding the predicted impacts of climate change to birds and habitats within the SJV region and beyond. This project aims to develop a foundation for monitoring environmental change in the SJV region by better understanding and detecting climate change effects, identifying areas and species at greatest risk, and increasing the capacity for making conservation decisions for bird populations and habitats. Ultimately, we hope to determine how to best focus monitoring and habitat protection and restoration activities to adapt to these projected changes.

The project will combine climate models and bird observation data to create an interactive, web-based tool that will allow biologists and land managers to visualize predicted changes to birds and habitats. Ultimately, these tools are envisioned to help inform decisions about monitoring, restoration, and habitat protection in the SJV region and beyond.

PRBO, with support from the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative, has already developed a similar tool for California (www.prbo.org/cadc). Based on this previous successful undertaking, we are creating a similar model for the SJV region, with the goal of eventually expanding it to the Desert LCC region and all of Mexico. In addition to the interactive website, we are planning a series of workshops to determine priority species and locations for undertaking long-term bird monitoring, select standardized monitoring protocols, and develop a standardized mechanism for entering, storing, and sharing monitoring data. The final step will be to train protected areas managers and monitoring biologists in these techniques.

To learn more about this project, including how to incorporate your bird observation data or become a partner, please contact Jennie Duberstein.