Week 5 - Flora & Fauna: Ecological assessment tools

1. Flora & Fauna

1.4. Ecological assessment tools

Estuaries Although there are no national standards for assessing flora and fauna with the exception of the MCI (Macroinvertebrate Community Index). The ANZECC guidelines (Australian and New Zealand guidelines for freshwater and marine water quality - click here for link) are a useful tool for comparing results. Methodologies for assessing ecology include:

MCI
Pit Trapping (see image below for a herpetofauna trap)
5 Min Bird Counts (see below)
Ecological Response Criteria (ERC)
Vegetation Survey (significant trees or biodiversity may be listed in the district or regional plans).

5 minute bird counts

The five-minute bird count (5MBC) method was developed in New Zealand in the early 1970s by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) for monitoring forest birds. The method has been undertaken consistently for nearly 40 years leading to a large resource of counts (over 200 000).

These counts are valuable as they often provide our only historical baseline measure of multi-species bird populations in New Zealand forests.