Roads as a contributor to landscape-scale variation in bird communities

Sophia C. Cooke; Andrew Balmford; Paul F. Donald; Stuart E. Newson; Alison Johnston

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16899-x

Roads as a contributor to landscape-scale variation in bird communities

Sophia C. Cooke^*, Andrew Balmford, Paul F. Donald, Stuart E. Newson, Alison Johnston

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Roads and their traffic can affect wildlife over large areas and, in regions with dense road networks, may influence a high proportion of the ecological landscape. We assess the abundance of 75 bird species in relation to roads across Great Britain. Of these, 77% vary significantly in abundance with increasing road exposure, just over half negatively so. The effect distances of these negative associations average 700m from a road, covering over 70% of Great Britain and over 40% of the total area of terrestrial protected sites. Species with smaller national populations generally have lower relative abundance with increasing road exposure, whereas the opposite is true for more common species. Smaller-bodied and migratory species are also more negatively associated with road exposure. By creating environmental conditions that benefit generally common species at the expense of others, road networks may echo other anthropogenic disturbances in bringing about large-scale simplification of avian communities.

Original language	English
Article number	3125
Number of pages	10
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16899-x
Publication status	Published - 7 Jul 2020

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title = "Roads as a contributor to landscape-scale variation in bird communities",

abstract = "Roads and their traffic can affect wildlife over large areas and, in regions with dense road networks, may influence a high proportion of the ecological landscape. We assess the abundance of 75 bird species in relation to roads across Great Britain. Of these, 77% vary significantly in abundance with increasing road exposure, just over half negatively so. The effect distances of these negative associations average 700m from a road, covering over 70% of Great Britain and over 40% of the total area of terrestrial protected sites. Species with smaller national populations generally have lower relative abundance with increasing road exposure, whereas the opposite is true for more common species. Smaller-bodied and migratory species are also more negatively associated with road exposure. By creating environmental conditions that benefit generally common species at the expense of others, road networks may echo other anthropogenic disturbances in bringing about large-scale simplification of avian communities.",

author = "Cooke, {Sophia C.} and Andrew Balmford and Donald, {Paul F.} and Newson, {Stuart E.} and Alison Johnston",

note = "Funding: The BBS is jointly funded by the BTO, JNCC and RSPB. Stuart Newson is supported by the BTO{\textquoteright}s Young Scientists{\textquoteright} Programme. Sophia C. Cooke is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (RG81247).",

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doi = "10.1038/s41467-020-16899-x",

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AU - Cooke, Sophia C.

AU - Balmford, Andrew

AU - Donald, Paul F.

AU - Newson, Stuart E.

AU - Johnston, Alison

N1 - Funding: The BBS is jointly funded by the BTO, JNCC and RSPB. Stuart Newson is supported by the BTO’s Young Scientists’ Programme. Sophia C. Cooke is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (RG81247).

PY - 2020/7/7

Y1 - 2020/7/7

N2 - Roads and their traffic can affect wildlife over large areas and, in regions with dense road networks, may influence a high proportion of the ecological landscape. We assess the abundance of 75 bird species in relation to roads across Great Britain. Of these, 77% vary significantly in abundance with increasing road exposure, just over half negatively so. The effect distances of these negative associations average 700m from a road, covering over 70% of Great Britain and over 40% of the total area of terrestrial protected sites. Species with smaller national populations generally have lower relative abundance with increasing road exposure, whereas the opposite is true for more common species. Smaller-bodied and migratory species are also more negatively associated with road exposure. By creating environmental conditions that benefit generally common species at the expense of others, road networks may echo other anthropogenic disturbances in bringing about large-scale simplification of avian communities.

AB - Roads and their traffic can affect wildlife over large areas and, in regions with dense road networks, may influence a high proportion of the ecological landscape. We assess the abundance of 75 bird species in relation to roads across Great Britain. Of these, 77% vary significantly in abundance with increasing road exposure, just over half negatively so. The effect distances of these negative associations average 700m from a road, covering over 70% of Great Britain and over 40% of the total area of terrestrial protected sites. Species with smaller national populations generally have lower relative abundance with increasing road exposure, whereas the opposite is true for more common species. Smaller-bodied and migratory species are also more negatively associated with road exposure. By creating environmental conditions that benefit generally common species at the expense of others, road networks may echo other anthropogenic disturbances in bringing about large-scale simplification of avian communities.

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-020-16899-x

DO - 10.1038/s41467-020-16899-x

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 11

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

M1 - 3125

ER -

Roads as a contributor to landscape-scale variation in bird communities

Abstract

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