Advancing avian road ecology research through systematic review

Abstract

Linear Transport Infrastructure (LTI) often has important impacts on wildlife and landscape processes. Two reviews provided early insight and nuance into LTI impacts on birdlife but were published when road ecology experiments were still being developed. Four factors were identified to impact birds near roads: habitat quality, species-specific traits, traffic noise, and infrastructure. Although early work identified traffic noise as the main selective force, recent studies lend more support to habitat quality and infrastructure. However, this literature was deemed to possess low inferential strength given inconsistent data collection, inadequate management of confounding variables, limited inclusion of vehicle-free environments, short-term experimental timeframes, and use of methodologies susceptible to bias. A new experimental framework for better evaluation of the impact of roads on birdlife is proposed. This would facilitate the construction of species and/or community profiles useful in the design, construction, and management of transport networks.