Positive roadside edge effects on artificial nest survival in a lowland Atlantic Forest

Abstract

Road construction is considered to be one of the primary causes of forest fragmentation, and little is known about how roads affect bird reproductive success. The objective of this study was to assess the survival rate of artificial nests along an edge associated with a highway and in the interior of a tabuleiro forest. The study was performed at the Sooretama Biological Reserve, on the margins of federal highway BR‐101, between September and October 2015. A total of 168 artificial nests with a Common quail ( Coturnix coturnix ) egg in each nest were placed along six sampling transects, at distances of 2, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, and 800 m from the highway toward the forest interior. We used logistic regression and estimated daily survival rate (DSR) using the “Nest Survival” function in the program MARK to estimate artificial nest survival and assessed the effect of the distance from the highway. The artificial nest survival rate was significantly higher on the highway margins than at other distances. The results show that artificial nests located up to 25 m from the highway have a greater success probability (over 95%) and a significant decrease in success probability more than 50 m from the highway. Although we cannot rule out other nonroad‐specific edge effects on artificial nest predation, our results suggest that the impacts of the highway (e.g., noise, vibration, visual stimuli) cause predators to avoid the road's surroundings (up to 25 m into the forest) when selecting their feeding sites, which partially supports the predation release hypothesis.

Interspecific interactions disrupted by roads

“…Road proximity is usually negatively related to bird nest survival in temperate regions (Falk, Nol & Burke, 2011; Yoo & Koper, 2017; Newsome & Hunter, 2022) as edge‐associated predators use these new habitats for hunting (Small & Hunter, 1988; Thogmartin, 1999; Dijak & Thompson, 2000; Lahti, 2001; Fraser & Whitehead, 2005; Newmark & Stanley, 2011). By contrast, some studies have found no effect (Huhta, 1995; Bechet, Isenmann & Gaudin, 1998; Mettenbrink, Dreitz & Knopf, 2006; Svobodová, Šálek & Albrecht, 2007) or a positive effect of road proximity on nest survival (Delgado García, Arévalo & Fernández‐Palacios, 2005; Angkaew et al ., 2019; da Silva et al ., 2019). Nest predation on road verges involves a complex interaction among: ( i ) the type of infrastructure, with nest predation higher near dirt roads (DeGregorio, Weatherhead & Sperry, 2014); ( ii ) roadside structure (Bergin, Best & Freemark, 1997; Shochat et al ., 2005), with perches such as trees increasing nest predation and tall grass reducing it (Depalma & Mermoz, 2019); ( iii ) traffic volume, with higher traffic loads decreasing nest predation relative to birds breeding close to medium‐to‐low‐traffic roads (Pescador & Peris, 2007); and ( iv ) predator traits, with human‐tolerant or bold predators showing increased foraging activity along road corridors (Pedersen et al ., 2011; Khamcha, Powell & Gale, 2018).…”

“…The construction of a new road involves the destruction of habitat and allows human access to previously remote natural habitats (Santos & Tabarelli, 2002; Selås, Johnsen & Eide, 2010; Dwinnell et al ., 2019; Olynyk, Westwood & Koper, 2021). Infrastructure corridors create separated habitat patches in formerly unified habitats (Cullen et al ., 2016; Sawaya, Clevenger & Schwartz, 2019), and modify the habitat on both sides of the corridor, in a way that may attract some species – either native or alien – and deter others (da Silva et al ., 2019; McClure, 2021; Darlington et al ., 2022). Finally, road traffic causes wildlife–vehicle collisions and road‐avoidance behaviours in response to road‐associated pollution due to noise, light or particle emissions from the vehicles (Auerbach, Walker & Walker, 1997; Hintz & Relyea, 2019; McClure, 2021).…”

Advancing avian road ecology research through systematic review

“…Reduced activity of several species of vulture near roads have also been reported (Hill et al, 2018). The absence of predator activity, in addition to a dense shrub layer and other human infrastructure, nearer to the forest edge may have, in turn, enhanced nest success and post-fledgling survival documented in several species (Rao & Koli, 2017;Angkaew et al, 2019;Silva et al, 2019;Somsiri et al, 2019).…”

Can linear transportation infrastructure verges constitute a habitat and/or a corridor for vertebrates in temperate ecosystems? A systematic review

“…It was indeed shown that some small mammals avoid going onto roads [129,130] and that several predators of small mammals are negatively affected by roads, including foxes, badgers, and snakes [19]. However, the predation release hypothesis for positive road effects on small mammals has to be clearly demonstrated [131], although the hypothesis was again supported by a recent study showing that predation rate on artificial nests was reduced up to 25 m from a highway with high traffic density [132] (but see [133]). The release from predation in roadside areas may only occur on roads with high traffic density such as highways.…”