Effects of industrial activity and anthropogenic noise on grassland birds

工业活动可以在许多方面影响野生动物。包括道路在内的基础设施可能会破坏景观，并为捕食者的迁徙和狩猎提供便利。另外，来自基础设施的噪音可能会对野生动物产生许多负面影响，如降低附近栖息地的吸引力、增加死亡率或干扰交流。依赖声音交流的物种，如鸣禽，可能特别容易受到工业噪音的影响。因此，有地面基础设施、道路和噪音的油井可能会对鸣禽产生负面影响。在接下来的五年里，我的发现基金项目将集中研究油井及其噪音对两种草地鸣禽的影响：在加拿大受到威胁的栗颈长刺鸟（Calcarius ornatus）和分布更广的萨凡纳麻雀（Passerculus sandwich）。******重要的是，我们要确定工业活动的影响是由于物理结构本身，还是来自基础设施的噪音，因为减轻人类对野生动物影响的策略取决于这些影响的原因。例如，如果井对鸟类的影响是由于道路，我们可以通过将井聚集在一起来减少所需的通道数量来减少它们的影响。然而，如果油井的影响是由噪音引起的，我们可以通过使用隔音屏障墙或更安静的泵技术来减少它们的影响。为了从油井本身的存在中区分噪音的影响，我们将把有和没有产生噪音的油井与我们播放油井噪音录音的地点进行比较。*******水井和来自水井的噪音会对鸟类产生许多不同的影响。在这里，我们将重点讨论其影响的原因。人们对草原鸣禽离开巢穴后的生存情况了解甚少；我们将比较在有井和没有井噪声的地点雏鸟的存活率。我们在之前的研究中发现，水井对繁殖的一些影响可能是由营养不良引起的；我们将评估井和噪音对猎物可用性的影响，对觅食和警戒行为之间的权衡，以及对身体状况的影响。来自井的噪音可能会使雌性难以发现和评估潜在伴侣的质量；我们将测量井和噪声对配对率和后代的影响。最后，我们将进行实验，以确定减少井噪声的体积，提高噪声的可预测性，或者用更安静的基础设施取代传统的井泵是否会减少井对草地鸣禽的影响。总的来说，我们的研究将帮助我们理解为什么工业活动及其噪音会影响鸣禽，因此我们可以确定如何最好地减少人类活动对环境的影响

Industrial activities can influence wildlife in many ways. Infrastructure, including roads, can fragment the landscape and facilitate movement and hunting by predators. Alternatively, noise from infrastructure may have numerous negative impacts on wildlife by reducing attractiveness of nearby habitat, increasing mortality, or disrupting communication. Species that are dependent on acoustic communication, such as songbirds, may be particularly vulnerable to industrial noise. Therefore, oil wells, which have above-ground infrastructure, roads, and noise, may have negative impacts on songbirds. Over the next five years, my Discovery Grant program will focus on effects of oil wells and their noise on two species of grassland songbirds: chestnut-collared longspurs (Calcarius ornatus), which are threatened in Canada, and Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis), which are more widespread.****** It is important that we determine whether effects of industrial activities are due to the physical structure itself, or noise from the infrastructure, because strategies for mitigating human impacts on wildlife differ depending on what the reasons are for those impacts. For example, if effects of wells on birds are due to roads, we might reduce their impact by clustering wells together to reduce the number of access roads needed. However, if effects of wells are due to noise, we could reduce their impact by using sound-dampening barrier walls or quieter pump technology. To distinguish effects of noise from the presence of the wells themselves, we will compare sites with and without noise-producing oil wells to sites where we play recordings of noises from wells.******* Wells, and the noise from wells, can have many different impacts on birds. Here, we will focus on the reasons for their effects. Very little is understood about survival of grassland songbirds after they leave the nest; we will compare survival of fledglings in sites with and without wells and well noise. Some effects of wells on reproduction, which we discovered in previous research, might be caused by poor nutrition; we will assess effects of wells and noise on prey availability, on the trade-off between foraging and vigilance behaviour, and on body condition. Noise from wells may make it difficult for females to detect and assess the quality of potential mates; we will measure effects of wells and noise on pairing rates and on offspring. Finally, we will conduct experiments to determine whether reducing the volume of well noise, increasing predictability of noise, or replacing traditional well pumps with quieter infrastructure would reduce impacts of wells on grassland songbirds. Cumulatively, our research will help us understand why industrial activity and its noise affects songbirds, so we can determine how to best reduce environmental impacts of human activities.***