Impact of Busy Roads on Breeding Success in Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca

Abstract

The impact of dense traffic on the breeding success in pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) was studied using roadside nest-boxes. Nest site selection and breeding success of flycatchers were observed in relation to the distance from the road. The number of occupied territories was no higher closer to the road than it was deeper inside the forest. The distance to the road had no effect on the laying date, clutch size, or brood size. However, nests closer to the road were more likely to fail at the chick stage. The number of broods that were closer to roads and were lost completely was significantly higher than those further away. As a consequence, the number of fledglings per breeding attempt decreased closer to roads. The nestlings typically died as older chicks when the parent birds were providing them with maximum quantities of food. A possible reason for the declining reproductive success was the traffic-related mortality of parent birds, as weather conditions were not especially adverse for raising healthy offspring.

The effect of road traffic on a breeding community of woodland birds

“…This could have been due to the edge effect created by lines of communication (Ferris 1979;Helle 1983;Š álek et al 2010;Summers et al 2011). The edges of roads have a richer vegetation structure, a larger proportion of segetal plants and can also offer food from anthropogenic sources (Helle and Muona 1985;Huhta et al 1999;Kuitunen et al 2003). But, nesting on woodland margins carries a greater threat from predators, which more often hunt along the edges of a habitat than in its interior (Kuitunen and Helle 1988;Ratti and Reese 1988).…”

“…The adverse effects of road traffic on animals have been described quite extensively in the literature (Spellerberg and Morrison 1998;Forman and Sperling 2003;Fahrig and Rytwinski 2009). Particularly, numerous are papers on the negative influence of the construction and operation of new roads on birds, which are model organisms for this type of study (Reijnen et al 1997;Kuitunen et al 2003;Pescador and Peris 2007). Most studies indicate that roads carrying heavy traffic have led to a reduction in density and species richness of birds nesting in the immediate vicinity (Reijnen et al 1995;Reijnen et al 1996;Palomino and Carrascal 2007) although some authors have found that species behave neutrally or even prefer the neighbourhood of transport routes (Clark and Karr 1979;Adams and Geis 1981;Benitez-López et al 2010).…”

“…Difficulties in vocal communication caused by traffic noise appear to be one of the main problems affecting the functioning of birds in a noise-polluted environment (Brumm and Slabbekoorn 2005). Traffic noise can modify behaviour and certain parameters of bird populations, namely, it can reduce breeding success (Kuitunen et al 2003;Halfwerk et al 2011), hamper the search for a suitable partner (Brumm 2004;Habib et al 2007) and compel changes in the loudness and frequency of songs during the courting period (Salaberria and Gil 2010). Moreover, it can have an impact on parent-offspring vocal communication, and adults may therefore not be able to meet their nestlings' demands (Leonard and Horn 2008).…”

The floral characteristics of the road edge effect on the example of a road with low traffic volume in the “Puszcza Notecka” Forest

“…Bignal et al, 2007;Czerniak et al, 2007;Eigenbrod et al, 2008;Forman and Alexander, 1998;Garcia--Gonzaleza et al, 2012;Kuitunen et al, 2003;Koivula and Vermeulen, 2005;Valentukevičienė, 2016). The results of such research indicate that an ecotone zone is formed at approx.…”

Effects of Experimental Noise Exposure on Songbird Nesting Behaviors and Nest Success

“…It may be that noise, taken by itself, is negligible in its influence on fitness for some species, but combined with other factors associated with traffic, such as collisions, light pollution, etc., may lead to reduced breeding success. For example, Kuitunen et al (2003) found that pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) breeding near the road produced fewer fledglings but not fewer eggs or chicks, presumably because parents died via collision with traffic during the nesting period. Because of its co-occurrence with other disturbances, and varying sensitivities among species, soundscapes should be taken into account when assessing habitat quality for secondary-cavity nesters along with landscape features that are typically managed, such as the type and arrangement of land cover.…”