| Email: | ADU no. | Password: | |
| Forgot password? Remember me | |||
The Animal Demography Unit (ADU) launched the Coordinated Waterbird Counts (CWAC) project in 1992 as part South Africa’s commitment to International waterbird conservation. This is being done by means of a programme of regular mid-summer and mid-winter censuses at a large number of South African wetlands. Regular six-monthly counts are regarded as a minimum standard; however, we do encourage counters to survey their wetlands on a more regular basis as this provides more accurate data. All the counts are conducted by volunteers; people and organisations with a passion for waterbird conservation. It is one of the largest and most successful citizen science programmes in Africa, providing much needed data for waterbird conservation around the world. Currently the project regularly monitors over 400 wetlands around the country, and furthermore curates waterbird data for over 600 sites.
This is the single page [0.1MB] you need to download, print and take on holiday with you. It is the compact guide to all the projects of the ADU, including a list of all the Virtual Museums. You might also find it useful if you get asked the question: "What citizen science projects is the ADU involved in?" It was produced by MSc student Kate Robinson, who was asked precisely that question when she gave a talk at the Stanford Bird Festival recently – thanks, Kate. The paragraph at the top of the page provides a remarkably succinct summary of what the projects are all about, and why they are so important.
Following the successful ADU 20th anniversary celebrations at Kirstenbosch on 11 June and Pretoria on 15 October, our next celebratory event takes place in Kwazulu-Natal, at the National Botanical Gardens in Pietermaritzburg. The event will take place on Saturday 11 February 2012 in the Clivia Room (pictured here).
The programme for the day is taking shape, and involves ADU staff and supporters. It will start at 10h00 (tea/coffee from 09h30), we have a picnic lunch together, and we will end around 15h00. This is an opportunity to interact with fellow volunteers from the full variety of ADU projects and to celebrate 20 years of ADU citizen science in South Africa. Our objective is to have a programme designed to provide feedback on our citizen science projects, and how the resulting data are used in science and conservation.
Registration is now open for this event. Go to http://20.adu.org.za to sign up. There is no charge and entrance to the gardens (if you do not have a BotSoc card) will be at the student rate (R8-00).
Tweet
This paper is based largely on data out of the CWAC project. Waterbird counts at Langebaan Lagoon started in midsummer and midwinter way back in 1975, long before the West Coast National Park was established. Prior to CWAC, the counts were undertaken by the Western Cape Wader Study Group. Until the 1970s, Red Knots were rarely recorded in southern Africa, and then there was a period in the 1970s and 1980s when they were relatively abundant at places such as Langebaan Lagoon. The number of Red Knots has subsequently declined. This new paper presents an explanation of the rise and fall of the Red Knot in southern Africa.
Summers RW, Underhill LG, Waltner M 2011. The dispersion of Red Knots Calidris canutus in Africa – is southern Africa a buffer for West Africa? African Journal of Marine Science 33: 203–208.
ABSTRACT:The Siberian subspecies of the Red Knot Calidris canutus canutus spends the non-breeding season largely in West Africa (Mauritania and Guinea Bissau), where approximately half a million occurred in the 1980s. It was a rarely seen in southern Africa in the early part of the 20th century, but there were about 12 500 in the 1970s and 1980s. The main sites were Langebaan Lagoon, Berg River Estuary, Olifants River Estuary (South Africa) and Walvis Bay Lagoon (Namibia). There was a decline in the number of Red Knots at Langebaan Lagoon in the 1990s, to around 20% of the number that occurred there in the 1980s. Numbers remained low in the 2000s. In addition, the percentage that remained during the austral winter (the breeding season in the Arctic) declined, and there was none during the period 2001–2009. This suggested that first-year birds, which largely comprise the austral winter population, were no longer travelling to southern Africa. The decline in numbers coincided with the decline in West Africa, but it was disproportionately larger in southern Africa. The observed pattern of change is consistent with a buffer effect, whereby southern Africa represents an extension to the range to less suitable habitat (requiring a 6 000 km extension to the migration) when the population size and competition is high in the main localities in West Africa. We are probably now witnessing the gradual decline in the number of adult birds who are fixed in their use of southern Africa as their non-breeding quarters.
Tweet
