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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 109(1)

Towards a set of priorities for bird conservation and research in Australia: the perceptions of ornithologists

Kelly K. Miller A B and Michael A. Weston A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Vic. 3125, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: kelly.miller@deakin.edu.au

Emu 109(1) 67-74 https://doi.org/10.1071/MU08054
Submitted: 6 October 2008  Accepted: 22 December 2008   Published: 5 March 2009

Abstract

Australian delegates at the Australasian Ornithological Conference (2007) were surveyed by questionnaire to determine their perceived research and conservation priorities for Australian birds (n = 134). Respondents were honours or postgraduate students (37.4%), academics (26.2%), wildlife managers (6.5%), land managers (6.5%), environmental consultants (5.6%), independent wildlife researchers (5.6%) or had ‘other’ occupations not relevant to birds or their management (12.1%). Respondents rated their priorities on a predetermined set of issues, and were invited to add additional priorities. ‘Conservation of threatened species’ was considered the highest priority, followed by ‘Conservation of birds and biodiversity in general’, ‘Monitoring’, ‘Management’ and ‘Working with communities’. ‘Animal welfare/rights’ was regarded as comparatively less important. Eight of 11 conservation strategies were regarded as of high importance, these included habitat protection and rehabilitation, threat abatement, research, advocacy and education. This study documents the view of the ornithological community with respect to priority issues facing birds and could potentially feed into government and other policies aimed at conserving and understanding Australia’s birds.


Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Birds Australia, for partial funding of this project, and for supporting our efforts at running the survey, including facilitating a staff workshop on questionnaire design. We also thank the Ornithological Society of New Zealand, especially Richard Holdaway. The survey would not have been possible without the active help of Sue Mather and fellow organisers of the 2007 AOC. Thanks to all those who completed the questionnaires, and to James O’Connor for helpful comments. The study was conducted under a Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee permit (#EC191–2007).


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