Some Uses and Potentials of Qualitative Methods in Planning

Planners use methods borrowed from many disciplines. These are usually modified and adapted to meet planner's needs to acquire and sift through many diverse information sources helpful in dealing with complex problems. The quantitative methods which planners use are well known, well established in practice, and acknowledged by most as tools of the planners' trade. In contrast to this, most planners also use qualitative methods but these are rarely explicitly acknowledged.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68912/2/10.1177_0739456X8600600110.pd

Developing indicators for European birds

The global pledge to deliver ‘a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010’ is echoed in a number of regional and national level targets. There is broad consensus, however, that in the absence of conservation action, biodiversity will continue to be lost at a rate unprecedented in the recent era. Remarkably, we lack a basic system to measure progress towards these targets and, in particular, we lack standard measures of biodiversity and procedures to construct and assess summary statistics. Here, we develop a simple classification of biodiversity indicators to assist their development and clarify purpose. We use European birds, as example taxa, to show how robust indicators can be constructed and how they can be interpreted. We have developed statistical methods to calculate supranational, multi-species indices using population data from national annual breeding bird surveys in Europe. Skilled volunteers using standardized field methods undertake data collection where methods and survey designs differ slightly across countries. Survey plots tend to be widely distributed at a national level, covering many bird species and habitats with reasonable representation. National species' indices are calculated using log-linear regression, which allows for plot turnover. Supranational species' indices are constructed by combining the national species' indices weighted by national population sizes of each species. Supranational, multi-species indicators are calculated by averaging the resulting indices. We show that common farmland birds in Europe have declined steeply over the last two decades, whereas woodland birds have not. Evidence elsewhere shows that the main driver of farmland bird declines is increased agricultural intensification. We argue that the farmland bird indicator is a useful surrogate for trends in other elements of biodiversity in this habitat

National-scale analyses of habitat associations of Marsh Tit Poecile palustris and Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus: two species with opposing population trends in Britain

Capsule Marsh Tits were strongly associated with both the amount and species diversity of woodland understorey; Blue Tits were associated with large trees and deadwood. Aims To gather quantitative information on the habitat requirements of Marsh Tits, in comparison with those of Blue Tits, across a large number of sites in England and Wales, and secondly to evaluate the range of habitat conditions likely to encourage the presence, and increase the abundance of, each species. Methods Counts of birds were made at each of 181 woods across England and Wales, and habitat data were collected from the same locations in each woodland. Marsh Tit and Blue Tit presence and abundance were related to habitat characteristics, interspecific competition and deer impact. Results Shrub cover and species diversity were important for the presence and abundance of Marsh Tits, across their geographical range in Britain. Blue Tits were associated with large trees and deadwood. Conclusion Our results support the hypothesis that changes in woodland management, leading to canopy closure and a decline in the understorey available, could have had an impact on Marsh Tits, and may have led to the observed population decline. These same changes were also consistent with population increase in Blue Tits