Effects of oil wells and associated infrastructure on grassland songbirds, including species at risk

在北美，草原鸟的数量比任何其他生态系统的鸟类都要减少。这些物种减少的最重要原因之一是失去了原生草原栖息地，因此保护剩余的草原至关重要。 能源基础设施，如威尔斯，是丰富的整个加拿大的混合草草原。它对草原鸣禽的影响程度尚不清楚。某些类型的工业基础设施的影响可能比其他类型的要小。此外，使用更安静的基础设施可能会减轻能源开采的负面影响。很难将基础设施的噪声影响与基础设施的其他影响分开，因为工业基础设施和噪声通常发生在同一个地方。然而，重要的是要了解噪音的作用，因为如果基础设施的影响不能用噪音来解释，那么减少噪音的缓解措施将无助于物种保护。因此，重要的是评估不同类型的基础设施对草原鸟类的影响，这样我们就可以确保在草原上的石油开采活动在经济和生态上的可持续性。 我们将评估石油威尔斯和相关的基础设施，如道路，对草原鸣禽的丰度，生产力和行为的影响。我们将比较这些参数在不同的基础设施的网站，包括电池，泵与管道，压缩机站，电动潜水泵，螺旋千斤顶，以评估是否有一些方法提取石油对草原鸣禽比其他方法的影响更小。为了确定石油基础设施的影响是否是由基础设施的噪声引起的，我们将在没有基础设施的控制点、有活跃的威尔斯井的点、有闲置（沉默）的威尔斯井的点进行调查，我们将在没有基础设施的点播放基础设施噪声的录音。这项研究将有助于我们制定最佳管理实践和保护建议，在草原石油开采。

Prairie bird populations have declined more than birds of any other ecosystem in North America. One of the most important reasons for the declines of these species is loss of native prairie habitat, and thus the conservation of remaining prairies is critical. Energy infrastructure, such as oil wells, is abundant across Canada's mixed-grass prairies. The extent to which it impacts grassland songbirds is unknown. Some types of industrial infrastructure might have fewer effects than others. Further, it is possible that negative effects of energy extraction might be mitigated by the use of quieter infrastructure. It is difficult to separate the effects of the noise of the infrastructure from other effects of the infrastructure, because industrial infrastructure and noise usually occur in the same place. However, it is important to understand the role of noise, because if effects of infrastructure are not explained by noise, then mitigation measures to reduce noise will not contribute to species conservation. Therefore, it is important to evaluate effects of different types of infrastructure on grassland birds, so that we can ensure that oil extraction activities in grasslands are both economically and ecologically sustainable. We will evaluate effects of oil wells and associated infrastructure, such as roads, on abundance, productivity, and behaviour of grassland songbirds. We will compare these parameters in sites with different infrastructure, including batteries, pumpjacks with pipelines, compressor stations, electric submersible pumps, and screwjacks, to evaluate whether some methods of extracting oil have fewer effects on grassland songbirds than other methods. To determine whether effects of oil infrastructure result from the noise of the infrastructure, we will conduct surveys at control sites with no infrastructure, sites with active oil wells, sites with idle (silent) oil wells, and we will play recordings of infrastructure noise at sites without infrastructure. This study will help us to develop best management practices and conservation recommendations for oil extraction in prairies.