Research TopicsWildlife & Fish: Bird Monitoring
Forest Monitoring Methods for Marbled Murrelets
 Very little was known about the Marbled Murrelet's nesting habitat when we started developing forest monitoring methods in 1987. Murrelets are most frequently observed and heard around dawn. Working with other researchers and the Pacific Seabird Group (PSG), we standardized forest survey methods and continued to refine them. PSG's most recent revision (2003) can be found on their publication web page.
We incorporated detectability into methods for ranking the importance of forest stands to the nesting bird, and provided managers with a tool for planning of habitat reserves (Stauffer et al. 2002). We have also worked with other researchers on the use of radar for detecting murrelets. This technique is especially useful in the pre-dawn hours when they fly silently into the forests (Hamer et al 1995).
Publications
- Paton, P.W.C., C.J. Ralph, H.R. Carter, and S.K. Nelson 1990. Surveying Marbled Murrelets at inland forested sites: A guide. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-120. Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; 9 p.
- O’Donnell, B. P. 1993. Patterns of activity and vocalizations of the Marbled Murrelet, Brachyramphus marmoratus, within old-growth redwood stands in northwestern California. Arcata, CA: Humboldt State University; 84 p. M.Sc. Thesis.
- Ralph, C.J., G. Hunt, J. Piatt, and M. Raphael (Eds.). 1995. Ecology and conservation of the Marbled Murrelet. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-152. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 420 pp.
- Naslund, N.L. and B.P. O'Donnell. 1995. Daily patterns of Marbled Murrelet activity at inland sites. pp. 129-134 in Ecology and Conservation of the Marbled Murrelet. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-152. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- O'Donnell, B.P. 1995. A review of the effects of station placement and observer bias in detections of Marbled Murrelets in forest stands. pp. 139-140 in Ecology and Conservation of the Marbled Murrelet. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-152. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- O'Donnell, B.P., N.L. Naslund, and C.J. Ralph. 1995. Patterns of seasonal variation of activity of Marbled Murrelets in forested stands. pp. 117-128 in Ecology and Conservation of the Marbled Murrelet. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-152. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Ralph, C.J. 1995. Interannual differences in detections of Marbled Murrelets in some inland California stands. pp. 135-138 in Ecology and Conservation of the Marbled Murrelet. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-152. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Hamer, T., B. Cooper, and C.J. Ralph. 1995. Use of radar to study the movements of Marbled Murrelets at inland sites. Northwest Naturalist 76:73-78.
- Stauffer, H.B., C.J. Ralph, and S.L. Miller. 2002. Incorporating uncertainty of detection into presence-absence survey design and analysis. In: Predicting species occurrences: Issues of scale and accuracy. Scott, J.M., P.J. Heglund, M. Morrison, M. Raphael, J. Haufler, B. Wall, eds. Island Press, Covello, California.
Additional publications can be found in our
Publications List
.
Last modified by L.L. Long
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