Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2019

Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E78

A comparative study of the effect of habitat disturbance on birds in Icelandic heathland.

Höfundar / Authors: Sölvi Rúnar Vignisson (1), Sunna Björk Ragnarsdóttir (2,3)

Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. Þekkingarsetur Suðurnesja, 2. Náttúrustofa Suðvesturlands, 3. Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands.

Kynnir / Presenter: Sölvi Rúnar Vignisson

Spring of 2018 at the Keflavik international airport, breeding population of birds were estimated within disturbed area from manmade structures, airborne traffic and non-native plants in comparison with area with minimal anthropogenic stressors.
Line transects were used to estimate density and diversity of birds in the area. Detection probability was found for each species with a generalized linear mixed model, the models were compared with the Akaike information criterion to find the best model.
With modeling it is possible to assess impact of external factors on bird surveys, such as observer and weather to estimate the probability of detection with the highest possible certainty.
The result showed a clear difference between the two areas. While some species clearly avoided the disturbed area other species showed affinity for non-native plant communities and housing