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Bird flight initiation distances in relation to distance from human settlements in a Tanzanian floodplain habitat

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Abstract

Human activity affects wildlife in many ways, but there have been few studies of how wildlife behavioural responses to human disturbance vary with distance from centres of human activity. Theory suggests that fear responses may be either higher in areas with high disturbance (disturbance avoidance) or lower in such areas (e.g. due to habituation). We used flight initiation distance (FID) to study how fear responses of 16 bird species varied with distance from villages (range 0.1–11.6 km) within the Ramsar site of Kilombero Valley, Tanzania. A linear model indicated that FID was not related to distance from villages, but varied between habitats. However, a piecewise linear model (linear response up to 2 km, flat response >2 km from villages) provided a better fit and suggested that there may be a small decrease in FID close to human settlements, in particular for the Common Bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus) and a few other species, although the majority of species still showed little change in FID with distance from human settlements. Our results suggest that a few species may respond to human disturbance with a decreased FID, whereas the majority of species showed little variation in FID in relation to distance from human settlements, and may therefore be negatively affected by increasing frequency of human disturbance.

Zusammenfassung

Fluchtdistanzen von Vögeln in Beziehung zum Abstand von menschlichen Siedlungen in einer Überschwemmungsebene in Tansania

Menschliches Handeln beeinflusst Tiere auf vielerlei Arten, aber es gab nur wenige Untersuchungen, wie sich die Verhaltensantworten der Tiere auf Störung durch Menschen unterscheiden in Abhängigkeit vom Abstand zum Zentrum menschlichen Handelns. Die Theorie sagt, dass Angstreaktionen entweder höher sind in Gegenden mit viel Störungen (Störungsmeidung) oder niedriger (z.B. aufgrund von Habituation). Wir betrachteten Fluchtdistanzen von 16 Vogelarten im Kilombero-Tal, einem Ramsar-Gebiet in Tansania, um zu untersuchen, wie sich deren Angstreaktionen unterschieden in Abhängigkeit ihrer Distanz zu Ortschaften (im Bereich von 00.1 bis 11.6 km). Ein lineares Modell zeigte, dass es zwischen Fluchtdistanz und Abstand von Ortschaften keinen Zusammenhang gab, sondern sie sich mit dem Habitat änderte. Allerdings ergab ein piecewise linear Modell (linear bis zu 2 km, flach >2 km zu Ortschaften) eine bessere Anpassung und deutete darauf hin, dass es eine kleine Verringerung der Fluchtdistanz geben könnte in der Nähe von menschlichen Siedlungen, insbesondere für den Graubülbül (Pycnonotus barbatus) und für andere Arten, wobei die meisten Arten in Abhängigkeit vom Abstand zu menschlichen Siedlungen jedoch nur eine geringe Änderung in der Fluchtdistanz zeigten. Unsere Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass einige wenige Arten auf menschliche Störungen mit einer Verringerung ihrer Fluchtdistanz reagieren, während der Großteil der Arten nur geringe Unterschiede in ihrer Fluchtdistanz zeigten, und daher negativ beeinflusst werden könnten durch eine Zunahme der Häufigkeit menschlicher Störungen.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Wilbard Ntongani and John Mchetto for great assistance in the field, Michael Grover for all his help with GIS. Tore Slagsvold commented on a previous draft of the manuscript. Financial support was provided by the NUFU project ‘Integrating Livelihoods and Multiple Biodiversity Values in Wetland Management in Tanzania’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432, Ås, Norway

    Linn M. Bjørvik, Svein Dale & Stein R. Moe

  2. Departement of Mathematics, University of Oslo, Blindern, P.O. Box 1053, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Gudmund H. Hermansen

  3. Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania

    Pantaleo K. T. Munishi

Authors
  1. Linn M. Bjørvik
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  2. Svein Dale
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  3. Gudmund H. Hermansen
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  4. Pantaleo K. T. Munishi
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  5. Stein R. Moe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Svein Dale.

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Communicated by A. Hedenström.

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Bjørvik, L.M., Dale, S., Hermansen, G.H. et al. Bird flight initiation distances in relation to distance from human settlements in a Tanzanian floodplain habitat. J Ornithol 156, 239–246 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-014-1121-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-014-1121-1

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