The Influence of Noise Pollu1on on Bird Diversity Teyla Simon, Veronica Wright, Tasnima Elahi Project TRUE, Wildlife Conserva>on Society
Research Goal
Methods Conclusions
Future Research
Introduc1on • Wetlands are one of the most biodiverse systems, supporting both aquatic
and terrestrial species (1). • They are important habitats in urban landscapes that provide nesting
opportunities for wetland breeding birds, while also providing food resources for both native and invasive birds (2).
• One method of assessing wetland quality is by studying the changes in bird communities, given that birds are a powerful indicator species. (2)
• The literature indicates that anthropogenic noise may have damaging effects on the individual fitness of birds by acting as a physiological stressor (3).
• Avian populations that persist in noisy habitats, experience masking important vocalizations necessary for mating, which leads to negative behavioral changes and a decrease in fitness (3).
• Anthropogenic noise can serve as a powerful sensory pollutant that has the ability to nonrandomly distribute bird communities by interfering with different bird species’ ability to receive, respond and dispatch acoustic cues and signals necessary for mating and prey/predator detection (4).
Independent Teen Studies
1. Ten min fixed point counts conducted at four randomly chosen points at wetland loca>ons.
2. All birds heard or seen within a 50-‐m radius were recorded using a dependent-‐observer approach. In this approach, survey teams consisted of two par>cipants in which one par>cipant acted as the primary observer no>ng bird species and abundance, and the other par>cipant acted as the secondary observer recording data and no>ng any birds missed by the primary observer.
3. Par>cipants used the Decibel 10th app during their 10-‐min fixed point counts to record noise levels.
Further Analysis
Results
Figure 9. The average bird diversity index between Manhattan and Queens demonstrates a higher bird species diversity in Queens.
• Average noise level, or overall noise pollution, in a wetland site seems to negatively influence the bird richness. Supports our hypothesis that at lower levels of noise pollution we will observe higher bird diversity. • Bird richness in wetland sites is not influenced by the maximum level of noise. • Our data indicates that it is more important to look at the overall noise pollution in wetland sites rather than the maximum noise levels when trying to determine the influence on bird richness.
Figure 1. Trend in which the average noise levels increase as the average bird richness decreases.
Figure 2. This graph demonstrates that the maximum noise levels in wetland sites do not relate to the bird.
Figure 4. This graph demonstrates that as the average noise pollution increases in wetland sites the abundance of both native and invasive birds decreases.
Figure 5 This graph demonstrates that as the average noise pollution increases in wetland sites the average richness in invasive bird species decreases.
References
● Determine if there is a trend between bird species diversity and frequency noise levels.
● Determine if other human activities, such as transportation, might influence bird species diversity and abundance.
● Determine how the environmental surroundings, such as the type of plants at wetlands, might influence bird species diversity and abundance.
(1) Faccioli, Michela, Antoni Riera Font, and Catalina M. Torres Figuerola. "Valuing the recreational benefits of wetland adaptation to climate change: a trade-off between species’ abundance and diversity." Environmental management 55.3 (2015): 550-563. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-014-0407-7
(2) McKinney, Richard A., Raposa, Kenneth B., Cournoyer, Rose M. “Wetlands as habitat in urbanizing landscapes: Patterns of bird abundance and occupany.” Landscape and Urban Planning 100 (2011): 144-152.
(3) Mora, Jordan W., John N. Mager III, and Douglas J. Spieles. "Habitat and landscape suitability as indicators of bird abundance in created and restored wetlands." ISRN Ecology 2011 (2011). Retrieved from: file:///Users/g-lll308/Downloads/297684.pdf
(4) Caitlin R. Kight, Margaret S. Saha, and John P. Swaddle 2012. Anthropogenic noise is associated with reductions in the productivity of breeding Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) Ecological Applications 22:1989–1996. Retrieved from: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/full/10.1890/12-0133.1
(5) Francis, C. D. (2015), Vocal traits and diet explain avian sensitivities to anthropogenic noise. Global Change Biology, 21: 1809–1820. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12862. Retrieved from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12862/full
Image 4. Teyla and Veronica looking at a Black-Crowned Night Heron during their bird count at Inwood Hill Park.
• The purpose of this study was to observe if there is a correlation between noise pollution and the bird species richness in wetland sites.
• We hypothesized that if there are lower levels of noise pollution in
wetlands, then we will observe a higher bird species richness.
• After further analyzing the bird data and noise pollution data collected we observed that he noise pollution in an area is more strongly correlated with the abundance of native and invasive bird species, rather than the richness of native and invasive bird species present.
R² = 0.9258
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Influence of Average Noise Levels on Bird Richness
R² = 0.07125
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Influence of Maximum Noise Levels on Bird Richness
R² = 0.76396
R² = 0.50732
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Influence of Noise Pollution on the Abundance of Native and Invasive Bird Species
Abundance of native birds
Abundance of invasive birds
R² = 0.14848
R² = 0.81939 0
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Influence of Noise Pollution on the Number of Native and Invasive Bird Species
Number of Natives
Number of Invasives
Independent Teen Studies
Question Are invasive or native bird species more prevalent in areas of high tones/frequencies? Hypothesis More invasive birds will be observed in areas where high frequencies are recorded. Method Point counts while measuring frequency using a mobile app called SpectrumView. Results/Conclusions The trend observed, through all sites, is that bird diversity, as measured by Simpson’s Diversity Index, decreases when frequencies in the surrounding environment increase. The inverse was also observed.
Image 1. Frequency reading from site 2 in The Rambles.
Image 2. Frequency noise
level detection app, SpectrumView
Image 3. Additional frequency reading from Site 2 in The Rambles.
Image 5. Noise recording
Image 6. Logo of the Decibel 10th app used to measure noise levels
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Bird Richness vs. Average Noise Pollution
Manhattan Queens
Question: Are birds going to be more noise-tolerant at our sites in Manhattan versus Queens? Hypothesis: Birds will be more tolerant of noise pollution in Manhattan than Queens. Method: We conducted fixed-point counts while measuring noise pollution using a mobile app called Decibel 10th. Results/ Conclusions: There is no trend to support the hypothesis that the difference in noise pollution effects bird richness in Queens versus Manhattan. Figure 3. Demonstrates no clear trend that noise
pollution effects bird richness in Queens vs. Manhattan