BIRDBASE is an innovative project that Çağan Şekercioğlu first conceived in 1999 as an ambitious graduate student at Stanford University. Today, its Bird Breeding Atlas tracks ecological traits for an impressive 11,589 species of breeding birds. This massive dataset is the result of nearly three decades of time and effort, with an estimated 30-person years of time invested in compiling it. Continuing students pursuing a degree in the field of environmental science, ornithology or related fields. This platform provides crucial data that powers important research in ornithology, conservation biology, and macroecology.
The compilation aggregates priceless information from the many authoritative data providers including BirdLife International and the Birds of the World. Beyond that, it was the hundreds of bird books and ornithological papers reviewed which gave it an expansive quality. Şekercioğlu’s field observations of more than 9,400 bird species. His research tremendously expanded the dataset, providing a powerful starting point for more in-depth analysis.
BIRDBASE’s accessibility as a publicly available Excel spreadsheet hosted on Figshare allows researchers to explore critical links between ecological traits and species’ extinction risk. BIRDBASE is a dynamic educational resource. It is meant to serve as a living resource that offers the most recent information as new research and data are released.
The Origins of BIRDBASE
Now with ten years of distance, Çağan Şekercioğlu looks back at the international birth of BIRDBASE with amazement and some bittersweet feeling. What started as just a curiosity while in grad school has turned into an incredible resource for the scientific community.
“Thanks to my being naive, something that started with just a little question in grad school led to the foundation of my career. Right now, if one of my students came to me and said, ‘Hey, as part of my Ph.D. I want to enter the world’s birds into a dataset,’ I’m like, ‘No, you’re not doing that. You’ll never finish your Ph.D.’ Fortunately, I finished my Ph.D., but think about it, 1999 is when I had the idea and we are still putting finishing touches in 2025.” – Çağan Şekercioğlu
More than just a new initiative, BIRDBASE is a personal triumph for Şekercioğlu. It has truly grown to be an invaluable global database, leading the world in primacy on avian ecology. He doesn’t gloss over the hurdles encountered on the journey, especially the challenge of needing to collect massive amounts of data to address truly monumental scientific questions.
“To get funding you have to have a big question, but without data, how are you going to answer those big questions?” – Çağan Şekercioğlu
Significance of the Data
The dataset is more than digits and figures. It continues to be an indispensable resource for researchers studying the ecological traits that might make a species more or less susceptible to extinction across all avian species. It’s allowing scientists to better determine how species adapt to their changing environments and whether those adaptations will help them survive shifts around the corner.
Şekercioğlu underscores how important it is to know this sort of relationship. This is doubly important for tropical forest species, which are increasingly recognized for their vital role in global biodiversity.
“Most of them are tropical forest species. It is a very important group and they’re declining,” – Çağan Şekercioğlu
Their extreme sensitivity to habitat fragmentation makes these birds one of the most endangered groups of species on the planet. Even though most species from the tropical forest are small and not widely hunted, many are specialized, occupying narrow ecological niches that make them susceptible to extinction.
“They’re sensitive even though they’re not hunted. They are small, so they don’t need a big area. You wouldn’t expect them to be the most sensitive group to habitat fragmentation but they are highly specialized.” – Çağan Şekercioğlu
The Ongoing Impact of BIRDBASE
Since its public release, BIRDBASE has played an important role in furthering the research behind dozens of scientific publications. Şekercioğlu is a co-author on 98 peer-reviewed papers. Together, these works have been cited nearly 14,000 times, adding to his astounding overall total of over 24,000 academic citations garnered by his work.
Such a remarkable output underscores BIRDBASE’s important role in the growth of ornithological research and conservation initiatives. Researchers are always publishing new studies and enhancing previously available data. By continually iterating on this dataset, BIRDBASE survives and thrives, adapting alongside our rapidly changing environment.
“What started as this little specialized question turned into this global database, the first of its kind,” – Çağan Şekercioğlu
Looking to the future, BIRDBASE seeks to continue being a trusted tool for ornithologists around the globe. Researchers can improve their own research and analyses with the dataset’s individual worksheet tabs. These tabs provide trait values, trait definitions, nest information, and data sources.
“The most important seed dispersers in the tropics are frugivorous birds,” – Çağan Şekercioğlu
