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。基础设施，包括道路，可能会破坏地形，为捕食者的活动和狩猎提供便利。或者，基础设施的噪音可能会降低附近栖息地的吸引力，增加死亡率，或扰乱通讯，从而对野生动物产生许多负面影响。依赖声音通信的物种，如鸣禽，可能特别容易受到工业噪音的影响。因此，拥有地面基础设施、道路和噪音的油井可能会对鸣鸟产生负面影响。在接下来的五年里，我的发现资助计划将专注于油井及其噪音对两种草原鸣鸟的影响：在加拿大受到威胁的板栗颈长刺(Calcarius Ornatus)和更广泛的草原麻雀(Passerculus Sandwichensis)。我们必须确定工业活动的影响是由物理结构本身造成的，还是基础设施的噪音造成的，因为减轻人类对野生动物影响的策略根据这些影响的原因而有所不同。例如，如果水井对鸟类的影响是由于道路，我们可能会通过将水井聚集在一起来减少所需通道的数量来减少它们的影响。然而，如果油井的影响是由于噪音造成的，我们可以通过使用隔音屏障或更安静的泵技术来减少它们的影响。为了区分噪音的影响和油井本身的存在，我们会比较有和没有油井产生噪音的地点和播放油井噪音录音的地点。油井和油井的噪音可以对鸟类产生许多不同的影响。在这里，我们将集中讨论它们产生影响的原因。关于草原鸣鸟离开鸟巢后的存活情况，我们了解的很少；我们将比较幼鸟在有井和没有井和井噪音的地方的存活情况。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于营养不良造成的；我们将评估水井和噪音对猎物可获得性、觅食和警惕行为之间的权衡以及对身体状况的影响。来自水井的噪音可能会使雌性很难检测和评估潜在配偶的质量；我们将测量水井和噪音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，是否会减少井对草原鸣禽的影响。总而言之，我们的研究将帮助我们了解为什么工业活动及其噪音会影响鸣禽，这样我们就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.***