Bachelor Thesis

Effects of Sars Covid-19 travel restrictions on the breeding success of Common ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula) and Little tern (Sternula albifrons) on the East Frisian Islands

Anna Monika Schäffer (03/2022-09/2022)

Support: Anna Walentowitz, Samuel Hoffmann

Covid-19 travel restrictions caused a drastic decline in the number of tourists visiting the East Frisian Islands (Germany) in 2020 and 2021. Consequently, it could be assumed, that less disturbances on beaches lead to an increase of Common ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula) and Little tern (Sternula albifrons) breeding success (two species which depend on quiet beaches with minimal disturbance to raise their young). Citizen-science data from ornitho.de of the number of sightings of these two coastal bird species from 2011 to 2021 was analysed to try to establish whether there was an effect of the Covid-19 travel restriction on the breeding success. The results showed that the number of observers recording the data has a more significant effect than the number of tourists. The spatial analysis of the sightings in relation to the closest path (as a proxy to the exposure to human activity) did not indicate a difference in breeding success before the pandemic and the data during the pandemic. The pandemic allowed for a large-scale experiment of the effect of human disturbances on the natural world.