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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Vehicles kill birds on sandy beaches: The global evidence
The Science of the total environment, Vol.975, pp.1-11
01/05/2025
PMID: 40157036
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Abstract
1. Ocean beaches provide essential habitats for a diversity of birds to forage, breed, and roost. Beaches can also be prime sites for motorized recreation where off-road vehicles (ORVs) interact with avifauna - this creates a complex threat landscape in the human-wildlife domain, translating into a wicked conservation challenge.
2. Because effective vehicle management aimed at mitigating the adverse impacts of ORVs on animals is, ideally, evidence-based, here we synthesize the global data on vehicle-bird conflicts on sandy beaches.
3. Our meta-analysis demonstrates that deleterious impacts of ORVs on beach birds are geographically widespread, impacting a diversity of species in multiple ways, representing serious harm to individuals, populations, and assemblages.
4. Significant declines in the abundance and diversity of birds stressed by ORVs are common. Fitness is compromised at all stages of the breeding cycle: a) there are fewer breeding pairs, nests and successful breeding attempts on shores open to ORVs; b) compromised incubating behaviour exposes eggs and chicks to heat, cold and predators; c) nests and eggs are directly crushed by vehicles; d) fewer chicks hatch, and e) the number of young fledged diminishes. ORVs also flush birds (‘escape on the wing’), curtail critical foraging time, cause physiological stress, and displace individuals to less favourable habitats.
5. The strength of the evidence for serious ecological harm unambiguously attributed to off-road vehicles emphasizes the need to permanently reduce the spatial reach of ORVs, creating adequately-sized ‘safe zones’ for coastal avifauna in a variety of seascape and human use settings.
Details
- Title
- Vehicles kill birds on sandy beaches: The global evidence
- Creators
- Thomas A Schlacher - University of the Sunshine CoastMichael A Weston - Deakin UniversityBrooke Maslo - The State University of New JerseyJenifer E Dugan - University of California, Santa BarbaraKyle A Emery - University of California, Santa BarbaraDavid M Hubbard - University of California, Santa BarbaraBrendan P Kelaher - Southern Cross UniversityMariano Lastra - Universidade de VigoStuart E Parsons - University of the Sunshine Coast
- Publication Details
- The Science of the total environment, Vol.975, pp.1-11
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V.
- Grant note
- We warmly thank the Moreton Bay Foundation for financially supporting this project. MAW thanks the Beach Ecology and Conservation Hub (Venus Bay).
- Identifiers
- 991013269191502368
- Copyright
- © 2025 The Authors
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; National Marine Science Centre
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article