Obligation to Enhance OBIS Data for Sea- and Shorebirds of the Americas

The distributions of many sea- and shorebird species span large geographic areas, making them ideal candidates as biomonitors of ecosystem perturbations and long-term environmental trends. The basic question examined in this study was: Does a major open-access data archive contain sufficient temporal- and spatial-scale data to support more detailed inquiry into multi-decadal-scale responses in geographic distributions of specific taxa? The global-scale open-access data platform, Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), was searched to compile data on bird distributions of the Americas, including the Caribbean Sea. More than 680,000 occurrence records of 210 species, collected between 1965 and 2018, were located and evaluated by marine ecoregion. The Puget Trough/Georgia Basin marine ecoregion, along the United States/Canadian border, and the Virginian marine ecoregion on the US east coast, dominated occurrences, each with more than 100,000 records, while the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy had the most years of records (42). Most records from South America (similar to 29,000) came from the Channels and Fjords of Southern Chile, collected across 16 different years. More than 90% of the recorded data were collected since 1983, and more than 95% of the records were from North American marine ecoregions. We urge additional observations to be shared via OBIS to allow comprehensive large-scale and detailed meta-analyses of spatial and temporal trends in marine and shore-bird communities and their biodiversity.

Automated summary

The distributions of many sea- and shorebird species are ideal for monitoring ecosystem changes and long-term environmental trends. This study examined whether a global open-access data archive, OBIS, contains enough temporal and spatial data to support detailed investigations into multi-decadal-scale responses in bird distributions. Over 680,000 occurrence records of 210 species collected from 1965 to 2018 were compiled and evaluated by marine ecoregion. The majority of the records were from North American marine ecoregions, and additional observations are encouraged to allow comprehensive analyses of marine and shore-bird communities and biodiversity.