Do railway lines affect the distribution of woodland birds during autumn?

Wiącek, Jarosław; Polak, Marcin; Filipiuk, Maciej; Kucharczyk, Marek; Dawidowicz, Łukasz

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0231301

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(80 reference statements)

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“…Though the noise from busy roadside traffic provides negative impact on many bird species (Rheindt 2003, Summers et al 2011, in our study, we did not observe any negative interactions with the train movements to their surroundings. Such bird species frequently observed in station areas did not react much in response to the noise made by the movement of trains through the station (Wiącek et al 2015(Wiącek et al , 2019(Wiącek et al , 2020. In the present observations, the railway stations across urban-rural gradient appear to bear a positive impact on the bird species assemblages.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 48%

“…In this study, we found relatively higher abundance of omnivores in each selected railway stations irrespective of the urban-rural gradient followed by insectivores, while the abundance of other four guilds were the least. In the railway tracks near the forest areas, the insectivores dominate owing to the abundance of the macroinvertebrates like insects, more likely due to the edge effect (Wiącek et al 2020). The granivorous bird species were the most abundant in rural railway stations as compared to urban and suburban station regions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The railway platform can also act as a good foraging ground for several species of birds and lastly, some birds utilize railway tracks as a resting site as it becomes heated rapidly during the day and thereby providing protection from cold and windy situations during winter (Morelli et al 2014, Wiącek et al 2015. All these factors render a positive effect on birds and possibly the reason why they are found in higher aggregations near rail-associated structures than in the deeper forest (Wiącek et al 2015(Wiącek et al , 2019(Wiącek et al , 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bird species assemblages in railway stations: variations along an urban-rural gradient

et al. 2020

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The transportation infrastructures like railway tracks and roads bear negative impacts on natural environment. However, the opposite effects are also true in some instances where the man-made constructions have positive effect on faunal assemblages. This proposition was justified through the assessment of bird species using railway stations as model man-made structures in an urban-rural gradient, in the suburbs of Kolkata, India. During the entire study period along nine different railway stations, a total of 43 bird species belonging to 12 orders and 26 families were observed. Among these, the order Passeriformes was predominant in its species composition having 18 different species from 11 different families. In urban railway stations, a total of 23 bird species under 22 genera and 14 families were observed. In suburban railway stations, a total of 35 bird species under 32 genera and 22 families were documented. The railway stations from rural region showed the maximum number of species and abundance of bird families, where a total of 36 bird species under 32 genera and 23 families were observed. The railway stations from the suburban and rural regions were more similar in species composition. Irrespective of the locations, during the entire study period, the House Crow (Corvus splendens) was the dominant species followed by the Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis). About 18 bird species exhibited a decreasing population trend observed through the global population trend analysis. In all the railway stations, the abundance of omnivores were dominant while, the number of granivores were higher in the rural regions and the nectarivores were absent in the urban regions. It was apparent that the railway stations bear a positive effect on the bird species assemblages, which can be sustained through proper environmental management planning inclusive of urban greening.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 48%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bird species assemblages in railway stations: variations along an urban-rural gradient

et al. 2020

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“…Species migrating, flying past or not being associated with these habitats were ignored. The observer was highly experienced in bird censusing and used the same counting method as in studies on other habitats (Wiącek et al 2015a(Wiącek et al , 2015b(Wiącek et al , 2019(Wiącek et al , 2020. Birds were with great care, while moving slowly from one point to the next so as not to record the same birds twice at consecutive points.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A straightforward way of assessing the effect of traffic noise on birds is to study the changes in breeding density near a busy road. It has long been known that the numbers and species diversity of birds decrease in the vicinity of roads (reiJnen et al 1995(reiJnen et al , 1996, although some birds, in line with the edge effect, may occur in larger densities close to transport routes (kuitunen et al 2003;Benitez loPez et al 2010), particularly along railway lines (Wiącek et al 2015a(Wiącek et al , 2019(Wiącek et al , 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How farmland birds react to traffic noise?

Wiącek

2023

Belg. J. Zool.

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The effect of vehicle noise on farmland birds living in the vicinity of very busy roads was investigated. The study was conducted on two plots of crop fields located near national roads Nr. 12 and 19, the most important trunk roads in Poland and the eastern part of the Europe. The results of the current study are of wide relevance because crop fields are the dominant landscape type in both Poland and Europe. The conservation of the animals, including birds, living in such habitats is a priority issue in view of the strong pressure from human activities and the intensification of agriculture. The fieldwork was carried out in monthly from April to June 2020 and included counting birds in three rows of listening-observation points situated at 50, 150 and 250 m from the roads. At each observation point, all farmland and meadow birds seen and heard during a five-minute period were recorded, as was the maximum ambient noise level during this time. With increasing distance from the roads, the level of noise decreased while the number of individual birds and observed species increased. Most of the birds recorded, like skylark, lapwing, whinchat, yellowhammer, meadow pipit, pheasant, and common quail, avoided the vicinity of the roads. In contrast, the abundant yellow wagtail appeared to be insensitive to traffic noise and was evenly distributed over the two study plots. The roads and their associated traffic noise had a negative impact over a distance of about 100 m. At that distance, noise levels above 53–60 dB led to sharp falls in bird densities. Bird mortality due to collisions with vehicles was low because noise combined with the lack of attractive roadside habitats effectively deterred birds from the vicinity of the roads.

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Linear infrastructure drives biotic homogenization among bird species of a tropical dry forest

Hewavithana,

Weerakoon,

Wijesinghe

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Linear infrastructures (LIs) such as roads, railroads, and powerlines are expanding rapidly around the globe. While most future developments are projected to take place in tropical regions, available information on impacts of LIs is biased towards single species studies of solely road impacts in temperate regions. Therefore, we investigated impacts of three types of LIs (road, railroad, and powerline) on the bird community of a tropical dry forest. Point-count surveys to record avian richness and abundance were conducted at 80 plots that were spatially stratified to include sites proximate to all possible LI combinations. Five measures of vegetation structure were collected at each plot as well. We then assessed the relationship between the bird community (i.e., richness, abundance, composition) and distance to each LI type while accounting for variation in vegetation structure. Species richness and abundance both declined significantly (25% and 20%, respectively) from edge habitat next to railroad to interior forest plots, while community composition was significantly altered by the distance to all three LIs. Road and railroad (both forms of dynamic infrastructure with moving vehicles) had similar effects on the bird community that contrasted with those of powerline (a type of static infrastructure). The resulting ordination reveled that Sri Lankan endemics are significantly disfavored by LI proximity, while the three species most often found proximal to LIs all have naturalized populations across the world. Our results emphasize that LI drive biotic homogenization by favoring generalist species at the expense of unique elements of the biota.

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Do railway lines affect the distribution of woodland birds during autumn?

Cited by 6 publications

References 37 publications

Bird species assemblages in railway stations: variations along an urban-rural gradient

Bird species assemblages in railway stations: variations along an urban-rural gradient

How farmland birds react to traffic noise?

Linear infrastructure drives biotic homogenization among bird species of a tropical dry forest

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