TY - JOUR
T1 - Landfills, nocturnal foraging, and risk to aircraft
AU - Burger, J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Received 15 January 2001; revision received 22 February 2001; accepted 23 March 2001. Supported by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Environmental and Occupational Hlth eSnaccsIie sneutiIttt aehnkM.. Gochfeld, J. Lenard,oM. McMahon, R. Ramos, and SShu.kla for helpful comments on the article, libarryrea srcecmouherpat, scsegi,psh ritsacan,dnot ehrl goilstica help. I esepialcylthank T. H. Hupf for sugegg stthpirneole, pb mvrniotdeghrawi data on strisak thte airport, providing usfulecomments on the article, and providing funding for a laeprrrjgoc etteov ae luat rerscaehpnatrcdools ofroex aning mthbei-i skreptdr breimolat thAettiC lcanyo nAtruprt iaoantethd Atlantic County Utility Authority waste maenenmat fcagiit(liof tehFsee A doveAnirmanadrtliitiai so). tn Address correspondence to Dr. Joanna Burger, Division of Life Sciences, 604 Allison Road, Pis-cataway, NJ 08854-8082, USA. E-mail: burger@biology.rutgrs.edeu
PY - 2001/10/12
Y1 - 2001/10/12
N2 - Open landfills serve as an attractant to birds, with increasing risk of bird-plane collisions. Managers are searching for methods to allow landfilling while reducing potential bird problems near airports. Some municipalities are considering nighttime landfilling as an avian deterrent, particularly where waste management facilities are located near airports. The objective of this report was to evaluate whether nighttime landfilling will result in increased risk to aircraft from birds at the Atlantic County Airport in coastal New Jersey. The risk to nearby aircraft from nighttime landfill is a function of (1) attractiveness of landfills, airports, or other habitats, (2) nocturnal behavior of gulls and other birds, (3) elevations and flight paths of birds, (4) changes in population levels of gulls and other potentially hazardous birds, and (5) harassment techniques that can deter birds from the landfills, adjacent habitat, and airports. The latter, however, can serve to move birds to locations or altitudes that pose an even greater risk to aircraft. The number of strikes is generally increasing. While most air strikes occur during the day at the Atlantic County Airport, over 12% occur at night and nearly 20% occur at dawn when any garbage remaining from nighttime landfilling would be an attractant. The peak of strikes occurs in the early fall, when young birds are learning to forage. Risk data suggests that gulls and a wide variety of other birds are active at night, and if any garbage is available they will be attracted, increasing the risk to aircraft landing at night. Some actual night dumping has been carried out since October 3 1997 without apparently attracting gulls, suggesting that careful operations with appropriate institutional controls can make nighttime dumping feasible.
AB - Open landfills serve as an attractant to birds, with increasing risk of bird-plane collisions. Managers are searching for methods to allow landfilling while reducing potential bird problems near airports. Some municipalities are considering nighttime landfilling as an avian deterrent, particularly where waste management facilities are located near airports. The objective of this report was to evaluate whether nighttime landfilling will result in increased risk to aircraft from birds at the Atlantic County Airport in coastal New Jersey. The risk to nearby aircraft from nighttime landfill is a function of (1) attractiveness of landfills, airports, or other habitats, (2) nocturnal behavior of gulls and other birds, (3) elevations and flight paths of birds, (4) changes in population levels of gulls and other potentially hazardous birds, and (5) harassment techniques that can deter birds from the landfills, adjacent habitat, and airports. The latter, however, can serve to move birds to locations or altitudes that pose an even greater risk to aircraft. The number of strikes is generally increasing. While most air strikes occur during the day at the Atlantic County Airport, over 12% occur at night and nearly 20% occur at dawn when any garbage remaining from nighttime landfilling would be an attractant. The peak of strikes occurs in the early fall, when young birds are learning to forage. Risk data suggests that gulls and a wide variety of other birds are active at night, and if any garbage is available they will be attracted, increasing the risk to aircraft landing at night. Some actual night dumping has been carried out since October 3 1997 without apparently attracting gulls, suggesting that careful operations with appropriate institutional controls can make nighttime dumping feasible.
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U2 - 10.1080/15287390152543735
DO - 10.1080/15287390152543735
M3 - Article
C2 - 11594704
AN - SCOPUS:0035850969
VL - 64
SP - 273
EP - 290
JO - Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health - Part A: Current Issues
JF - Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health - Part A: Current Issues
SN - 1528-7394
IS - 3
ER -