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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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