What is it?

The objective of the LAKEWATCH Aquatic Bird Survey is to establish a statewide monitoring system to examine seasonal and yearly trends in Florida's aquatic birds.

Many bird species are known to associate with Florida's lakes, but few studies have directly quantified their numbers or examined long-term trends in diversity and abundance. As Florida's wetlands continue to be altered or destroyed, the need to better understand the value of these take systems to aquatic bird communities is of increasing importance.

Early studies, by Mark Hoyer and Dr. Dan Canfield, of the University of Florida's Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, revealed that aquatic bird abundance is strongly correlated with lake trophic status, and that species richness is strongly correlated with lake surface area (See links below). The LAKE WATCH Aquatic Bird Survey will expand upon these findings and answer further questions about the effects of shoreline habitat, water chemistry, and broad-scale climatic factors on foraging, nesting, and roosting aquatic birds. Ultimately, such findings will allow Florida to develop better management strategies for its lake environments.

How Does the Aquatic Bird Survey Work?

The following three articles describe some of the previous research that has been conducted on aquatic birds found on Florida lakes. The PDF files can be downloaded using Adobe Acrobat. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat on your computer, click here to download it for free. Once you have downloaded it, you can click on any of the three articles below to download them to your computer.

Hoyer, M.V. and D.E. Canfield, Jr. 1990. Limnological factors influencing bird abundance and species richness on Florida lakes. Lake and Reservoir Management 6(2): 133-141.
Download PDF

Hoyer, M.V. and D.E. Canfield, Jr. 1994. Bird abundance and species richness on Florida lakes: influence of trophic status lake morphology, and aquatic macrophytes. Hydrobiologia 297/280: 107-119. Download PDF

Hoyer, M.V., J. Winn, and D.E. Canfield, Jr. 2001. Citizen monitoring of aquatic bird populations using a Florida lake. Journal of Lake and Reservoir Management 17(2): 82-89.
Download PDF

Hoyer, Mark V., Sky K. Notestein, Thomas K. Frazer and Daniel E. Canfield Jr.  2006.  A comparison between aquatic birds of lakes and coastal rivers in Florida. Hydrobiologia 567:5-18.  Download PDF

Other Wildlife-Related Volunteer Opportunities

Audubon of Florida (http://www audubonofflorida org/leadership/citizen.htm - lists several great bird-monitoring programs around the state.

National Wildlife Federation (http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/habitatstewards.cfm - A good site to learn how to make your own backyard wildlife friendly and learn how to inform others as well

Cornell Lab of Ornithology (http://birds.cornell .edu/whatwedo_citizenscience.html - An extensive list of national citizen science bird monitoring projects

Florida LAKEWATCH
Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
IFAS
7922 NW 71st Street
Gainesville, FL 32653-3071
Toll Free Message Line: 1-800-LAKEWATCH (525-3928)
Phone: 352/392-4817
Fax: 352/392-4902
E-Mail:fl-lakewatch@ufl.edu