Reduced human activity during COVID-19 alters avian land use across North America

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in extraordinary declines in human mobility, which, in turn, may affect wildlife. Using records of more than 4.3 million birds observed by volunteers from March to May 2017-2020 across Canada and the United States, we found that counts of 66 (80%) of 82 focal bird species changed in pandemic-altered areas, usually increasing in comparison to prepandemic abundances in urban habitat, near major roads and airports, and in counties where lockdowns were more pronounced or occurred at the same time as peak bird migration. Our results indicate that human activity affects many of North America's birds and suggest that we could make urban spaces more attractive to birds by reducing traffic and mitigating the disturbance from human transportation after we emerge from the pandemic.

Drivers of avian habitat use and detection of backyard birds in the Pacific Northwest during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns

“…2), we are limited in our ability to parse out the interaction between human mobility and habitat use. Furthermore, while Google's Community Mobility Reports offer the best available data on human mobility 37 , data with a finer spatial resolution may be necessary to fully capture this relationship. Future studies should continue to investigate the relationship between human mobility and avian habitat use to assess how daily, seasonal, and extreme shifts in human mobility (as observed during the Anthropause) influence avian habitat use.…”

“…For example, more individuals of a species present at a site will likely lead to increased detection of that species. Some species may have been more abundant near urban areas during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns 37 . Migration may have also contributed to changes in local abundance of some species over the course of the study period.…”

“…To characterize shifts in human mobility during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, we relied on data from Google LLC's Community Mobility Reports 55 , which have been widely used to study changes in human behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic 26,27 and to examine effects of lockdowns on birds 21,37 . To measure human mobility, Google relies on data from its users' mobile devices, specifically those who have agreed to share their Location History.…”

Sentiment Analysis of Comments of American Birders during Two Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic Reveal More Negative Sentiments in the Context of Birding

“…A similar pattern was also reported for the platform eBird as observations in urbanized regions increased in April 2020 compared to previous years, whereas observations submitted from rarer wetland habitats were less prevalent [ 44 ]. The lockdown itself may have had a negative effect on birders, but not necessarily for birds because the birds changed their land use [ 45 ].…”

Response of atmospheric deposition and surface water chemistry to the COVID-19 lockdown in an alpine area

“…Rutz et al ( 2020 ) defined the global slowing of modern human activities during the lockdown as “anthropause”: this transient but unprecedented condition fostered important changes in natural ecosystems and modified the interaction between humans and environment. Positive effects of the “anthropause” on biodiversity and on the quality of specific environmental compartments have been reported (Manenti et al 2020 ; Schrimpf et al 2021 ; Patterson et al 2021 ). In particular, the effects of the lockdown were notable on air quality, as transport and mobility in general are the major contributors to air pollutant emissions.…”