Roads and their traffic can affect wildlife over large areas and, in regions with dense road networks, may influence a high proportion of the ecological landscape. We assess the abundance of 75 bird species in relation to roads across Great Britain. Of these, 77% vary significantly in abundance with increasing road exposure, just over half negatively so. The effect distances of these negative associations average 700 m from a road, covering over 70% of Great Britain and over 40% of the total area of terrestrial protected sites. Species with smaller national populations generally have lower relative abundance with increasing road exposure, whereas the opposite is true for more common species. Smaller-bodied and migratory species are also more negatively associated with road exposure. By creating environmental conditions that benefit generally common species at the expense of others, road networks may echo other anthropogenic disturbances in bringing about large-scale simplification of avian communities.

道路及其交通会影响大面积的野生动物，在道路网络密集的地区，可能会影响很大一部分生态景观。我们评估了英国各地道路上 75 种鸟类的丰富度。其中 77% 的丰度随着道路暴露程度的增加而显着变化，略多于一半的变化是负值。这些负面关联的影响距离平均距道路 700 m，覆盖了英国 70% 以上的地区以及陆地保护区总面积的 40% 以上。随着道路暴露程度的增加，全国人口较少的物种通常具有较低的相对丰度，而对于更常见的物种则相反。体型较小和迁徙的物种也与暴露在道路上的负面关系更大。通过创造有利于普遍常见物种而牺牲其他物种的环境条件，道路网络可能会与其他人为干扰相呼应，从而导致鸟类群落的大规模简化。