Noise pollution as a major disturbance of avian predation in Amsterdam

Trophic interactions play a key role in maintaining ecological balance. In urban environments, avian predation has been demonstrated to be particularly important due to its effects on community structure, pest control, and nutrient cycling. As humanity relies upon ecosystem services for sustenance, and with 70% of the global population projected to reside in urban areas by 2050, understanding the impact of urbanization on avian predation is becoming increasingly important. This study investigates the impacts of urban microclimates, shaped by impervious surfaces and green/blue infrastructure, and human-induced disturbances, on avian predation in urban areas, with the aim of testing the increased disturbance hypothesis. To assess the avian predation rate, plasticine caterpillars were placed in Quercus robur trees in the city of Amsterdam for a period of two months. The analyses evaluated the impact of artificial lighting at night, human population density, the urban heat island effect, im..., Study Site
The city of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) was selected as the study site for this experiment due to several factors. The city has a high human population density with 5.336 people per km2 (CBS 2023), a significant vegetation presence, numerous water canals, and a negligible elevation difference throughout the city that might affect trophic interactions (Dean et al. 2024). In consideration of the findings presented by Hernández-Agüero et al. (2020), which demonstrated predation differences between tree species, this study exclusively utilized Quercus robur trees. The trees were selected from a georeferenced list of all trees in Amsterdam. The selection criteria included species and a maximum height of twelve meters, which was necessary for us to reach the branches. A total of 2,882 Q. robur trees were identified as eligible from a list of 259,431 trees in Amsterdam. The human population density, NDVI index and water percentage surrounding each tree were estimated, and the result..., , # Noise pollution as a major disturbance of avian predation in Amsterdam

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.63xsj3vbq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.63xsj3vbq)

## Description of the data and file structure

This repository contains resources for replicating the analysis and methodology described in the article **\"Noise pollution as a major disturbance of avian predation in Amsterdam\"** published in *Wildlife Biology* by Bas Krijnen and Juan Antonio Hernández-Agüero.

#### Contents

1\. **`R_script_13_11.R`**:

This R script contains the full analysis pipeline used in the study. It includes data preparation, statistical analysis, and visualization steps. Users can follow the script to reproduce all results presented in the article.

2\. **`Data_script_caterpillars.RData`**:

This file contains all the datasets required to replicate the analysis. The data are pre-processed and formatted to be compatible with the `R_script_13_11.R`.

\## Instructions

1\. Ensure you have R (version 4.2. or h...