Effects of overflights on incubating Wilson's plover behavior and heart rate

Abstract

Increasing attention is paid to the effects of human activities, including the use of aircraft, on wildlife. However, responses to visual and auditory stimuli associated with aircraft are highly species-and context-dependent and results of existing studies should not be generalized across species, or even across life stages of the same species. We used digital audio recorders, auto-triggered cameras, and heart rate monitors to study the responses of nesting Wilson's plovers (Charadrius wilsonia) to different types of planes (civilian and military fixed-wing aircraft) and helicopters (civilian and military rotary-wing aircraft) at Cape Lookout National Seashore, North Carolina. We compared vigilance behavior, incubation rate, and heart rate before, during, and after overflights. Wilson's plovers were alert and scanned more during military rotary-wing overflights, and scanned more during both military and civilian fixed-wing overflights than during periods without overflights. Heart rates and incubation rates did not change during any type of overflights. Although we found no direct link between increased vigilance rates and decreased reproductive success, a substantial increase in aircraft traffic at our study site, especially rotary-wing overflights, would merit further investigation. Ó 2015 The Wildlife Society.

Noisy neighbours: effects of construction noises on nesting seabirds

“…However, little penguins did not increase their hear rate in response to the disturbance. This result aligns with a study by Derose-Wilson et al (2015) showing that Wilson's plovers (C. wilsonia) increased their vigilance, but not their heart rate, when aircrafts flew overhead, but contrasts with other studies in seabirds (e.g. Weimerskirch et al 2002;Schaefer and Colombelli-Négrel 2021).…”

“…buildings, infrastructure, transportation, and marine industries), as well as tourism and recreational activities, is continuously expanding and altering the sensory environment, thereby causing adverse effects on wildlife (Jefferson et al 2009;Lai et al 2015). Sensory disturbance, such as from coastal developments, can invoke a stress response in animals, where their attention is consumed by the introduced stimulus, which reduces the time they spend performing biologically important behaviours, such as foraging, communicating, and breeding (Chan and Blumstein 2011;Derose-Wilson et al 2015;Buxton et al 2017a;Franks 2017;Bevan et al 2018). Distracted animals may also be more susceptible to fatal attacks from predators as their preoccupied state of mind reduces their ability to detect and avoid threats (Chan et al 2010).…”

“…This study investigated the behavioural and physiological responses of little penguins (Eudyptula minor) to introduced anthropogenic noises resulting from coastal development (specifically, construction noises) v. rainfall noises (our control) and the potential impacts of construction noises on little penguin breeding success. On the basis of previous literature in birds and their response to anthropogenic noises (Brown 1990;Melanie 2004;Hughes et al 2008;Humphries and Huettmann 2014;Watson et al 2014;Derose-Wilson et al 2015;Soldatini et al 2015;Buxton et al 2017aBuxton et al , 2017bFranks 2017;Bevan et al 2018), we hypothesised that individuals would display higher vigilance and distressed behaviours in response to the construction noises than to the rainfall noises. We also hypothesised that sexes will not differ in their behavioural and physiological response on the basis of previous studies in little penguins (Carroll et al 2016;Schaefer and Colombelli-Négrel 2021).…”

Spatiotemporal variation in disturbance impacts derived from simultaneous tracking of aircraft and shorebirds

“…All aircraft can cause disturbance, but the disturbance potential varies strongly among aircraft activities, indicating that birds perceive different threat levels from different aircraft (Derose‐Wilson, Fraser, Karpanty, & Hillman, 2015; Frid & Dill, 2002; van der Kolk et al., 2019). Transport aeroplanes elicited disturbances from 10‐km distance and caused large responses probably because they were rare, large and slow flying.…”