Road traffic reduces grassland bird density up to 3.5 km away

Evidence

The effect of traffic on grassland birds and the unexpectedly great reactions of birds to the presence of road traffic is well documented in a study conducted by Reijnen et al. (1996) in Dutch agricultural grasslands. Using transect counts these authors have found that of 12 species considered, 7 showed reduced density close to roads. Species showed great variability in the distance from roads, from 20 to 1,700 m for a road with 500 cars a day, and from 65 to 3,530 m from a road with 50,000 cars a day. In the first case the decrease of density ranged from 12 to 56 % within 100 m. For roads with 50,000 cars a day, the decrease of density was 12 to 52 % within 500 m. — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 1382

Categorization

• SHARE: A specific person researching road ecology or soundscape policy would value the three-kilometer impact radius figures.
• XREF: Parallels ch22’s landscape/quiet-site findings and the reader’s environmental-justice thread on transportation corridors. — connects to: Birds either shift song frequency up or abandon noisy areas to escape traffic masking — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1366; Landscape fragmentation shrinks bird song repertoire in small habitat patches — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 226; Severe disturbance plus low resource base can reduce species richness — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2259 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Birds either shift song frequency up or abandon noisy areas to escape traffic masking #expands (0.80) — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 1366
• Landscape fragmentation shrinks bird song repertoire in small habitat patches #corroborates (0.75) — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 226
• A severe dry year drove canopy birds closer to the ground #exemplifies (0.72) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1048
• Severe disturbance plus low resource base can reduce species richness #corroborates (0.70) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2259
• Rerouting traffic noise is local remediation, not holistic solution #corroborates (0.70) — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 2403