[Lly] Road Traffic and Nearby Grassland Bird Patterns in a Suburbanizing Landscape

[Pekka Sulkava]

hei

Tällaisia lintuhavaintoja ajattelin tältä aamulta laittaa. Eli
kulttuurivaikutteisissa ympäristöissä ei liikenteellä meidän Lapin
liikennemäärillä pitäisi olla alla olevien heppujen mukaan Pohjoisessa
Ameriikassa vaikutusta linnustoon. Vapaa yhden lauseen suomennos ei tosin kerro
kaikkea joten käykääpä joskus katsomassa koko artikkeli.

Pekka


Road Traffic and Nearby Grassland Bird Patterns in a Suburbanizing Landscape
Richard T. T. Forman, Bjorn Reineking, Anna M. Hersperger

Environmental Management 29:782-800 (2002)
© 2002 by Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

Abstract

An extensive road system with rapidly increasing traffic produces diverse
ecological effects that cover a large land area.
Our objective was to evaluate the effect of roads with different traffic volumes
 on surrounding avian distributions, and its
importance relative to other variables. Grassland bird data (5 years) for 84
open patches in an outer suburban/rural lands
cape near Boston were analyzed relative to: distance from roads with 3000-8000
to >30,000 vehicles/day; open-habitat
patch size; area of quality microhabitat within a patch; adjacent land use; and
distance to other open patches. Grassland
bird presence and regular breeding correlated significantly with both distance
from road and habitat patch size. Distance
to nearest other open patch, irrespective of size, was not significant.
Similarly, except for one species, adjacent land use,
in this case built area, was not significant. A light traffic volume of
3000-8000 vehicles/day (local collector street here) had
no significant effect on grassland bird distribution. For moderate traffic of
8000-15,000 (through street), there was no effect
on bird presence although regular breeding was reduced for 400 m from a road.
For heavier traffic of 15,000-30,000
(two-lane highway), both bird presence and breeding were decreased for 700 m.
For a heavy traffic volume of 30,000
vehicles/day (multilane highway), bird presence and breeding were reduced for
1200 m from a road. The results suggest
that avian studies and long-term surveys near busy roads may be strongly
affected by traffic volume or changes in volume.
We conclude that road ecology, especially the effects extending outward >100 m
from roads with traffic, is a sine qua non
for effective land-use and transportation policy.