Many avian species are considered agricultural pests and cause severe and costly damage to crops worldwide. Crop producers use several methods to reduce damage by birds, with frightening devices serving among the most popular approaches. Biologically salient frightening devices, such as broadcast of conspecific alarm calls or placing predator models in fields, are considered particularly effective because they can trigger antipredator behaviors that reduce foraging activities or abundances of target birds locally. However, it remains unclear which type of biologically salient frightening device is most effective and whether some work best against certain bird species or on certain types of crops. We reviewed the published scientific literature to fill in these knowledge gaps about using biologically salient frightening devices for crop protection against avian pests. We found 48 experiments evaluating the impact(s) of biologically salient frightening devices. However, only 28 experiments statistically tested their results from which to draw conclusions. We found that alarm call playbacks, eye-spot balloons, or automated flying vehicles (UAVs) reduced avian abundance in all experiments. All experiments using alarm call playbacks, eye-spot balloons, hawk-kites, or UAVs effectively reduced crop damage. However, only experiments on passerine birds and in row crops were well-represented in these studies. We discuss potential biases in the literature that may limit our understanding of how birds respond to biologically salient frightening devices and suggest future directions that researchers might take to fill knowledge gaps.

许多鸟类物种被认为是农业害虫，对全世界的农作物造成严重且代价高昂的损害。农作物生产者使用多种方法来减少鸟类造成的损害，其中最流行的方法是使用可怕的设备。生物学上显着的可怕装置，例如广播同种警报呼叫或在田野中放置捕食者模型，被认为特别有效，因为它们可以触发反捕食者行为，从而减少当地的觅食活动或目标鸟类的数量。然而，目前尚不清楚哪种类型的生物显着恐吓装置最有效，以及某些装置是否对某些鸟类或某些类型的作物最有效。我们回顾了已发表的科学文献，以填补这些关于使用生物显着的恐吓装置保护作物免受鸟类害虫的知识空白。我们发现了 48 项评估生物学显着性恐怖装置影响的实验。然而，只有 28 个实验对他们的结果进行了统计测试，从中得出结论。我们发现警报呼叫回放、眼点气球或自动飞行器 (UAV) 在所有实验中都减少了鸟类的数量。所有使用警报呼叫回放、眼点气球、鹰风筝或无人机的实验都有效地减少了对作物的损害。然而，在这些研究中，只有关于雀鸟和行作物的实验得到了很好的体现。