Human recreation alters behaviour profiles of non-breeding birds on open-coast sandy shores

Thomas Schlacher; Tara Nielsen; M A Weston

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2012.12.016

Back

Human recreation alters behaviour profiles of non-breeding birds on open-coast sandy shores

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Human recreation alters behaviour profiles of non-breeding birds on open-coast sandy shores

Thomas Schlacher, Tara Nielsen and M A Weston

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Vol.118, pp.31-42

2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2012.12.016

Files and links (1)

url

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2012.12.016View

Published Version

Abstract

sandy shores

shorebirds

human disturbance

coastal management

conservation

Sandy beaches are primarily valued for their amenity and property values rather than for their ecological functions and properties. Some human usage of beaches potentially conflicts with the conservation and management of wildlife, such as beach-dwelling birds, on sandy shorelines. Because responses by birds to environmental change, including disturbance by humans, often involve behaviours that carry fitness costs, we quantify behaviour profiles of birds in relation to human occurrence along 200 km of sandy shoreline in Eastern Australia, including the large conservation area of Fraser Island. Disturbance to birds on these shores was considerable: 1) birds encountered motorized vehicles (cars, trucks, buses etc.) during 80% of focal bird observation bouts, 2) birds were flushed in over half (up to 86% in individual species) of all bouts, and 3) individuals spent, on average, one-third of their time on disturbance-related behaviours; this was particularly prevalent for Crested Terns (Thalasseus bergii) which were alert 42% of the time and spent 12% of their time escaping from human stimuli. Overall, this study demonstrated that motorized traffic is the prime agent of disturbance to birds on these beaches, resulting in frequent and time-consuming escape behaviours. These findings also emphasize that management of vehicle-based recreation on beaches needs to be re-aligned to meet conservation requirements in addition to providing leisure opportunities in National Parks and beyond; we identify some salient issue for this development: a) encouragement of social norms that promote environmentally benign beach use not involving motor vehicles, b) creation of spatial refuges for beach wildlife from traffic and other non-compatible uses, and c) investment in developing complementary management actions such as effective set-back distances.

Details

Title: Human recreation alters behaviour profiles of non-breeding birds on open-coast sandy shores
Authors: Thomas Schlacher (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Tara Nielsen (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
M A Weston (Author) - Deakin University
Publication details: Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Vol.118, pp.31-42
Publisher: Academic Press
Date published: 2013
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecss.2012.12.016
ISSN: 0272-7714
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; GeneCology Research Centre - Legacy; Academic Support Unit; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450239502621
Output Type: Journal article

Metrics

1 File views/ downloads

619 Record Views

69 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Marine & Freshwater Biology; Oceanography

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites