Quantitative Metrics and Monitoring

The Quantitative Metrics and Monitoring Team develops and applies the latest quantitative analyses to prioritize and measure the impact of Audubon’s conservation work. The team produces the robust modeling efforts needed to understand trends and spatial patterns in bird abundance, occupancy, and occurrence; delineates climate and habitat relationships; and evaluates population- and community-level responses to conservation and management actions. We work closely with all the other national science teams to develop analytical frameworks for analyses of community science data and migration data integration, for example. The quantitative team also recently developed two metrics to evaluate the impacts of Audubon’s conservation actions: the Bird-Friendliness Index to evaluate grassland bird community response to Conservation Ranching, and a trend-based index to evaluate the impacts of coastal stewardship on coastal breeding and wintering birds. We also characterized trends in Audubon priority species and related conservation activities in the Priority Birds Report. Current team members include Nicole Michel (lead), Tim Meehan, Sarah Saunders, and Jennifer Fuller.