Size of the ecological effect zone associated with exurban development in the Adirondack Park, NY

Exurban development represents a potential threat to wildlife communities and ecological integrity in rural landscapes worldwide and recent work has suggested that its ecological impacts can be similar to those associated with more characteristically urban development patterns. Despite the large scope and rapid pace of exurbanization, understanding of its ecological consequences is incomplete and most North American research has occurred in the western United States. The ecological impact zone denotes the area surrounding a home which should be considered affected habitat and has been shown to be demonstrably larger than the actual footprint of homes and lawns. We conducted a study to determine whether an impact zone of 180 m identified for a shrub-oak community in the Rocky Mountain west was applicable in an eastern, closed forest system. We sampled bird communities at the forest/lawn edge of exurban homes, and at 200- and 400-m in surrounding forest and modeled occupancy at increasing distances from residential structures for human-adapted, human-sensitive, and neutral species. Occupancy rates of human-adapted and human-sensitive species were different (36% higher and 26% lower, respectively) at points near homes versus those in surrounding forest. Our findings indicate a similarity in the effects of exurban homes on avian communities and the size of the ecological impact zone in these structurally different eastern and western North American landscapes. This similarity suggests the possibility that human behaviors associated with exurban homes may play a larger role in shaping avian community characteristics nearby than do habitat alterations created by construction and clearing.

► Avian communities were altered up to 200 m from exurban homes in the Adirondack Park.
► Results were similar to a study from a different part of the country, in a different habitat.
► Birds had different occupancy rates near homes versus at increasing distances in surrounding forest.
► The impact of a single exurban home extends beyond the building footprint up to 13 ha (31 acres).
► Understanding these impacts can help inform ecologically sensitive subdivision designs.