{"id":28243,"date":"2026-04-07T15:35:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/?page_id=28243"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:37:53","slug":"ingibjorg-lilja-omarsdottir-6","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/the-science-and-research-fund-of-south-iceland\/grant-recipients\/ingibjorg-lilja-omarsdottir-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Ingibj\u00f6rg Lilja \u00d3marsd\u00f3ttir"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo back\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Science and Research Fund<\/span>

Effects of land use changes on wading bird populations<\/span><\/h1>

Ald\u00eds Erna P\u00e1lsd\u00f3ttir, for her doctoral project in Biology at the University of Iceland.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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We got her to tell us briefly about her project.<\/p>

Biodiversity is declining globally and the main reasons for this are increased human activity. In the lowlands of Iceland, human activity has increased considerably in recent decades, but this is accompanied by major changes in land use, such as the construction of structures or changes in cultivation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether and how four types of human land use (roads, cottages, power lines and cultivated forests) had an effect on the density and species composition of peahens in the immediate environment. Areas were chosen in the lowlands of Iceland where these types of land use could be found and birds were counted. Two species (woodpecker and wagtail) either showed no effect or were found in higher densities near the aforementioned types of structures. On the other hand, there were six species (tufted tit, border shrike, shrike, tern, spoi and stilt) that were found in lower densities near at least one type of land use. Around roads and forests, it was possible to estimate how large the affected area was, which measured ~200 m beyond the perimeter.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Jar\u00f0l\u00f6g sko\u00f0u\u00f0.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The table shows the negative effects of structures on the selected bird species that were investigated, i.e. Whimbrel, Golden plover, Godwit, Dunlin, Redshank, Meadow pipit, Oystercatcher, Common snipe, Redwing. The top line shows which types of structures\/infrastructure were examined for impact, from left: plantation forest, power lines, summer houses, roads. A “vulnerability index” was also calculated for each species based on the density of the species in question, together with the development of the number of individuals over the past 10 years at selected counting points that took place during the last 10 days of June each year along road junctions. The results show that most of the peat birds are declining, with the exception of the grebe and the woodpecker, which are either staying the same or increasing in number.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Rannsakendur \u00ed g\u00f3\u00f0um g\u00edr.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Although the study found that plovers are generally found in lower densities near various types of land use and structures, we still don’t know why. That’s why we started another study in 2022, which aims to check if and how the nesting success of these bird species changes with distance from structures and cultivated forests. That investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"\"<\/figure>

Jar\u00f0vegurinn geymir mikla s\u00f6gu.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Go back The Science and Research Fund Effects of land use changes on wading bird…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":28315,"parent":24351,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28243","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28243"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28285,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28243\/revisions\/28285"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}