Do Decibels Matter? A Review of Effects of Traffic Noise on Terrestrial Small Mammals and Bats

Bednarz, Paula A

doi:10.3161/15052249pje2020.68.4.005

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 52 publications

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“…The idea that mammals in particular might be repulsed by human presence (termed a "scarecrow effect") by [30], has been suggested in some studies [31,32] and meta-analyses [33]. Small mammals are also known to avoid roads [34], and noise in particular may in uence their foraging decisions [35]. Another study completed in the same study area also showed much reduced nest predation in conjunction with human activity (speci cally the photography of nests; Tan et al in review).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating how different classes of nest predators respond to the playback of the begging calls of nestling birds

Liu

Quan

Jiang

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background Begging brings benefits and costs for nestling birds: it can indicate their needs to their parents, but it can also be a cue used by predators to find the nest. The costs, like many variables related to nest predation, can be specific to what kinds of predators are present and their auditory capabilities. These costs and benefits could also be affected by human noise, as noise could disrupt communication to parents and eavesdropping by predators, although human-produced noise might be easily ignored if predators can hear high-frequency components of the begging. We studied nest predation on a generalist bird, the Red-whiskered Bulbul Pycnonotus jocosus, in a tropical rainforest in which there are many kinds of nest predators, including birds, mammals and reptiles. Results In a total of 160 artificial nests, we broadcast recordings of begging nestlings, with and without traffic noise, at two volume levels. We hypothesized that playback would increase predation relative to a silent control, and that mixing in traffic noise with the begging would decrease predation, as the begging signal was masked. However, we hypothesized that some predators, particularly small mammals with sensitive high-frequency hearing, might ignore the traffic noise. We found that predation was lowest for the control treatment, and lower for treatments mixed with traffic noise than for those without it. Small mammals, however, showed an unexpected pattern, strongly avoiding the treatments with traffic noise. Conclusion Our results demonstrate the human-associated noise can disturb nest predators and influence which kinds of predators use begging to locate nests.

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