Biology subjects

Lebbin, D. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Lebbin, D. J..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

The BirdsPlus Index, a novel method for assessing site-level conservation values.

While there is growing interest in sustainable management practices to mitigate the biodiversity impacts of agriculture, logging, and other critical societal needs, implementation of such practices is often hindered by a lack of cost-effective, fine-scale metrics that directly link management actions to conservation outcomes. We introduce the BirdsPlus Index (BPI), a novel, scalable approach that integrates monitoring data, remote sensing, and conservation-weighted species scores to quantify deviations of observed site scores from spatiotemporally explicit expectations. Using nearly 29,000 recordings from the Macaulay Library, we generated acoustic checklists with the Merlin and BirdNET sound identification models under multiple detection thresholds. We matched these acoustic checklists with species-specific conservation values (BirdsPlus species scores), then trained random forest models to predict total, site-level biodiversity (the sum of these species scores) given environmental and effort covariates. The resulting model also enabled us to map expected BirdsPlus site scores across the landscape. These scores integrate information on species conservation status, ecological roles, and phylogenetic and functional uniqueness. BPI was calculated as the residual between observed and expected site scores, thereby providing a direct site-level measure of conservation value. Across 30 sites, we found that BPI values were consistent across acoustic models and detection thresholds, with high-scoring sites supporting regionally uncommon breeders and habitat specialists. While acoustic- and observer-based (eBird) models showed differing spatial patterns, both aligned with known ecological drivers such as urban density, elevation, and wetland cover. Our results demonstrate that acoustic checklists can be used to model expected biodiversity over time and space, and that the BPI provides a robust, interpretable metric for evaluating the ecological integrity of local sites. Beyond its immediate application to conservation planning, this framework lays the foundation for global, real-time biodiversity monitoring that leverages automated acoustic classifiers, citizen science, and remote sensing to integrate conservation value into development and management decisions.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Aligning conservation status, vulnerability factors, and ecological and evolutionary uniqueness to produce integrated assessments of the world's birds

A growing awareness, now enshrined in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, of the need to monitor biodiversity effectively at scale has led to a proliferation of novel solutions for doing so. Although global biodiversity encompasses all life, from tiny nitrogen-fixing bacteria to emergent rainforest trees, birds have several characteristics that make them a frequent focus of such monitoring efforts. In particular, birds frequently give diagnostic, species-specific vocalizations that simplify monitoring, they perform a number of critical ecosystem services, they are widely distributed in most ecosystems with strong representation on all continents, and the basic ecology, conservation status, populations, and distributions of many species is well known; birds thus provide a window into the underlying health and habitats of the systems under study. How best to summarize biodiversity monitoring results is a research question that has led to the development of approaches that incorporate species IUCN Red List threat assessments into site-level biodiversity scores. Notably, birds vocal behavior means that they can be effectively surveyed at scale with passive acoustic monitoring, and the potential to link such monitoring with automated identification and therefore quickly generate site-level biodiversity scores is an appealing approach to implement rigorous evaluations of global biodiversity. Yet, while many of the worlds birds are suffering worrisome population declines, the vast majority of species (78%) are still ranked "Least Concern" by the Red List. In an effort to develop a species scoring system that would be more conducive to such site-level valuations, we integrated key databases of species population status assessments, exposure to known vulnerability factors, and their functional and phylogenetic uniqueness to provide quantitative summaries of their conservation significance. We augmented these databases with two novel data sets available for most of the worlds birds: quantitative measurements of migration distances, and species-level phylogenetic and functional uniqueness values comparing each species to those it co-occurs with throughout its range. While the resulting BirdsPlus species scores also inherently reflect our own scientific expertise and judgement, our approach is transparent, dynamic, easily updated, and readily modified by users with different goals or values.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Identifying conservation priority areas for the most under-protected globally threatened birds in Latin America

In this study, we assess how well globally threatened bird species in Latin America are currently represented within existing protected areas, and we identify conservation priority areas for the most under-protected species. We used publicly available data to map the Area of Habitat (AOH) for each of the 149 land birds in South America listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as either Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable (the latter only under criterion D - those with the smallest populations or ranges). We then set two minimum conservation targets for each species: first a population-based target that estimates the proportion of the AOH needed to conserve 1,000 mature individuals (or the total population if smaller) to prevent extinction; and second, an area-based target that estimates the amount of habitat needed to sustain the long-term conservation of each species. The AOH maps were then overlaid with existing protected areas to identify those species that do not yet have their minimum conservation targets met. Using this approach, we identified 10 species that require additional protection to avoid extinction, and a further 54 species that need expanded protection for sustained conservation. Fortunately, the majority of species already met their target. We also ran a prioritization analysis to identify and map the places most important for meeting the goals of the under-protected species. We found that just 661.4 km2 is needed to meet population-based targets for the ten species of greatest concern, and 16,360 km2 is needed to meet area-based targets for all under-protected species combined. These areas represent <0.1% of the regions land area and are mostly concentrated in five countries (Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil). Expanding reserves to cover these areas should result in both improved conservation outcomes and Red List status for these species.

ecology↗