Community science for enigmatic ecosystems: using eBird to assess avian biodiversity on glaciers and snowfields

Abstract

Mountain glaciers and snowfields are rapidly receding because of climate warming. Species living in these habitats remain poorly studied, likely because of the remoteness and ruggedness of their terrain. We leveraged community science data from eBird—an online database of bird observations from around the world—to characterize bird use of mountain glaciers and snowfields. We estimated total bird biodiversity and preference for glaciers and snowfields over nearby, ice-adjacent habitats. We used field notes from eBird users and breeding codes to extend our data set to include insight into habitat usage and behavior. Finally, we compared our community-science approach to previous studies that used traditional (i.e., professional) field survey methods. We identified considerable avian biodiversity in glacier and snowfield habitat (46 species) with four specialists that appeared to prefer glaciers and snowfields over nearby, ice-adjacent habitats. Birds appeared to primarily use the glacier and snowfield habitats for foraging. When community science data was compared to traditional methods, results were similar, but community science resulted in a higher species diversity estimate. Our findings suggest glacier and snowfield retreat threatens specialist species via loss of nutrient resources. Additionally, community science data appears valuable for characterizing difficult to access areas, but traditional surveys are still useful for more rigorous quantification of avian biodiversity.

Keywords

• alpine
• citizen science
• community science
• climate change
• ecological monitoring
• perennial ice and snow
• shannon-wiener diversity
• species richness