Impact of outdoor recreation on the density of a number of breeding bird species in woods adjacent to urban residential areas

Abstract

Outdoor recreation is often supposed to have an important impact on wildlife, although this assumption has not been tested very often. The resulting lack of knowledge becomes apparent in situations where parties with conflicting interests disagree on the number of visitors an area can sustain without major repercussions. In 1980 the possible effects of recreation intensity upon bird densities were studied in seven study plots adjacent to urban residential areas in The Netherlands. Of the 31 bird species found, only 13 could be studied in detail, being present in at least 20 territories. Significant negative correlations between recreation intensities and bird densities were found for 8 of these 13 species. The slopes of the regression lines enabled us to rank the 8 species in a sequence of decreasing susceptibility. The results indicate that the disturbance is caused rather by the recreation intensity during the week than by the recreation intensity at weekends.