Action

Action Synopsis: Bird Conservation About Actions

Plant trees to act as windbreaks

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    12%
  • Certainty
    25%
  • Harms
    20%

Study locations

Key messages

  • One of two before-and-after studies, from the UK, found that the local population of European nightjars increased following several interventions including the planting of windbreaks.
  • A before-and-after study, from the USA, found that erecting a windbreak appeared to disrupt lekking behaviour in greater prairie chicken territories nearby.

 

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A before-and-after study in shrubland in 1962-1964 in Wisconsin, USA (Anderson 1969), found that the erection of a windbreak of 4 m high pines Pinus spp. appeared to disrupt lekking behaviour in male greater prairie chickens Tympanuchus cupido, with several males vacating their territories after trees were erected nearby.

    Study and other actions tested
  2. A before-and-after study at Minsmere reserve (151 ha), Suffolk, UK, in 1978-1988 (Burgess et al. 1990), found that the local population of European nightjars Caprimulgus europaeus increased following a series of management interventions, including the planting of ‘shelter belts’ to reduce wind in woodland glades. This study is discussed in detail in ‘Clear or open patches in forests’.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Williams, D.R., Child, M.F., Dicks, L.V., Ockendon, N., Pople, R.G., Showler, D.A., Walsh, J.C., zu Ermgassen, E.K.H.J. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Bird Conservation. Pages 137-281 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

 

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

Bird Conservation

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Bird Conservation
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What Works in Conservation

What Works in Conservation provides expert assessments of the effectiveness of actions, based on summarised evidence, in synopses. Subjects covered so far include amphibians, birds, mammals, forests, peatland and control of freshwater invasive species. More are in progress.

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