*Research Alert*
Could roads be simplifying bird communities in Britain? New research by @sophiacooke, @NewsonStuart et al published in @NatureComms uses BBS data to investigate this possibility. Read the thread below

Video
Paper https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16899-x

Great Britain has 246,000 miles of roads, enough to get around the world 10 times. In the past 50 years, traffic on these roads has more than doubled. In the same period, many bird species have suffered widespread declines – http://bit.ly/BBSandRoads 

@sophiacooke @ali__johnston

Roads can negatively impact birds, and other wildlife, through noise, collisions, and air, chemical and light pollution. However, they can also provide good habitat, grit, heat, food (road-kill) and perches in the form of powerlines and fences.

@sophiacooke

Analysing BBS count data from 20,000 transects, in over 2,000 squares across Great Britain, the study assessed populations of 75 species in relation to the locations of all roads within a 5km radius.

Thank you to everyone who contributed data!
#ornithology #monitoring

Of those 75 species, 77% varied significantly in abundance around roads. Just over half of the species were found in lower numbers near roads, while the rest were in higher numbers. Find out more here: http://bit.ly/BBSandRoads 

@sophiacooke #ornithology

For those species that were relatively less abundant around roads, these associations could be detected up to an average of 700 metres from a road – an area which represents >70% of Britain and >40% of the total area of terrestrial protected sites.
#maps #ornithology @sophiacooke

Further analysis showed that species with smaller national populations, such as Yellow Wagtails and Green Woodpeckers, generally exhibited lower relative abundance near to roads, while the opposite was true for more common species such as Woodpigeons and Blackbirds.

@sophiacooke

Smaller-bodied and migratory species, such as Chiffchaffs, were also found in lower relative abundance around roads.

#ornithology #monitoring
@sophiacooke @ali__johnston @NewsonStuart

With some species appearing to tolerate the disturbance of roads better than others, it is possible that roads, like urban areas, may be leading to simplification of Britain’s bird life, as already rare species are further replaced by more common ones?

#ornithology @sophiacooke

Roads have been largely overlooked as a threat to #biodiversity. With road-building plans and traffic increases in Britain forecast, the authors urge for a greater focus on mitigation of road impacts on both wildlife and people: http://bit.ly/BBSandRoads 

#development @sophiacooke