The impact of tourism upon some breeding wader species on the isle of Vlieland in the Netherlands' Wadden Sea

• Main Author: de Roos, G.T.
• Other Authors: Moerzer Bruyns, M.F.
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Veenman 1981
• Subjects: adverse effects; dutch wadden islands; fauna; friesland; habitats; nature conservation; outdoor recreation; territory; waders; nadelige gevolgen; natuurbescherming; nederlandse waddeneilanden; openluchtrecreatie; territorium; waadvogels; Numenius arquata
• Online Access: https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/the-impact-of-tourism-upon-some-breeding-wader-species-on-the-isl

Birds and man are of importance to eachother, directly and indirectly, positively or negatively.Populations of wild birds may decrease or even become extinct due to human activities because they are threatened directly or because theire characteristic habitats are destroyed. On the other hand, human effects might consist of protection or the creation of new habitats, e.g. by constructing dikes of drift sand or basalt piers on Vlieland.Direct protection by establishing bird sanctuaries is often necessary to prevent local extinction of certain species. On the other hand protection of species like Herring Gull ( Larus argentatus ) may have negative effects upon other species.In order to convince people that certain nature management measures should be taken, solid knowledge should be available of the effects and interactions of various factors affecting bird populations.Though the original motivation was to study the effects of tourism upon numbers of nest sites or territories, effects of the factors landscape/vegetation and altitude (above Amsterdam ordnance datum (+NAP))/hydrology were investigated in the same way. The literature concerning the effects of the three above-mentioned factors has been reviewed.The isle of Vlieland. in the Dutch Wadden Sea was chosen as the research area because it attracts many of tourists and contains many different habitats attracting large numbers of birds, in particular waders. Attention was restricted to the (European) Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus), the Curlew (Numenius arquata ) , the Redshank ( Tringa totanus ) and the Kentish Plover ( Charadrius alexandrinus ).In order to study the effects of and interactions between the factors (1) landscape/vegetation, (2) altitude/hydrology and (3) tourism upon numbers of nest sites or territories, data were collected and mapped as outlined in chapter 2. The vegetation maps reveal how an area is subdivided into smaller areas of different vegetation types, the altitude maps indicate the different altitude classes. Three tourism ...