Noise pollution could have a lasting effect on birds

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-09-14 09:01

International

Removing sources of noise pollution may not reverse its effects on bird species, according to international researchers. Near airports, birds start singing before air traffic sets in. However, six months after closure of Berlin Tegel airport in 2020, while some birds reverted to singing later, others still sang earlier. This shows noise pollution can have long-lasting effects on animal behaviour and noise removal may not lead to immediate recovery in some species, according to the authors.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Long-term effects of noise pollution on the avian dawn chorus: a natural experiment facilitated by the closure of an international airport
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Noise pollution is hazardous to humans and wildlife alike. Near airports, where noise levels are particularly high, birds start singing earlier in the morning, probably to gain more time of uninterrupted singing before air traffic sets in. We found that six months after the closure of Berlin Tegel airport some bird species at the airport shifted their song onset back but other species still sang earlier near the closed airport. This shows that noise pollution can have long-lasting effects on animal behaviour and noise removal may not lead to immediate recovery in some species.

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Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Germany

Funder: This work was funded by the Max Planck Society and a private donation by a Supporting Member of the Max Planck Society (to H.B.)

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