The Effects of Car Traffic on Breeding Bird Populations in Woodland. III. Reduction of Density in Relation to the Proximity of Main Roads

A Study of the Effects of Gas Well Compressor Noise on Breeding Bird Populations of the Rattlesnake Canyon Habitat Management Area, San Juan County, New Mexico

“…These observed species differences in response suggest different levels of tolerance to noise. Other researchers have observed species-specific differences in response to noise in other bird communities (van der Zande et al 1980;Reijnen et al 1995Reijnen et al ,1996. Although we did not detect an effect of noise on species diversity, the observed species-specific differences in noise tolerance could produce such an effect over time as more tolerant species replace less tolerant species in an area.…”

“…Reijnen and associates studied the effects of highways on forest and grassland birds in the Netherlands Foppen 1995a, 1995b;Foppen and Reijnen 1995;Reijnen et al 1995Reijnen et al ,1996Reijnen et al ,1997. In forest habitat, 26 of 43 bird species showed evidence of reduced density adjacent to roads with the distance at which effects were detectable ranging from 40 to 2,800 m, depending on the species and the traffic volume along the road .…”

“…Noise could interfere with the vocal communication of birds, particularly singing males, and thus make it more difficult for males in noisy environments to defend territories and attract and maintain mates (Busnel 1978;Reijnen and Foppen 1995a;Reijnen et al 1995). Alternatively, if noise produced stress in exposed birds, avoidance of noisy environments would result in lower densities in those environments.…”

Effects of Roads on Movements by Understory Birds in Mixed-Species Flocks in Central Amazonian Brazil

“…Curiously, the density of some temperate-zone species has been shown to be more sensitive to road openings, although most of these studies were conducted with wider and more heavily used roads (Rich et al 1994;Reijnen et al 1995;Ortega & Capen 1999;Forman & Deblinger 2000). Even so, studies focusing on birds of the temperate-forest interior have generally shown reduced density near all edges, not just roadsides (e.g., Van Horn et al 1995;Ortega & Capen 1999).…”

Monitoring change in biodiversity through composite indices

“…Such sites are often protected reserves, or atypical in other respects, and trends in abundance may be unrepresentative of what is happening in the wider countryside. Another example is the North American Breeding Bird Survey (NA BBS ;Droege 1990;Link & Sauer 1997), which is conducted along roads and tracks where habitats are unlikely to be typical of the area as a whole; these habitats may be avoided by some species (Reijnen et al 1995).…”