Synthesis of noise effects on wildlife populations

This report contains a partial summary of a literature review dealing with the effect of noise on wildlife emphasizing the effects on birds. Beginning with studies in the Netherlands and, later, in the United States, a series of studies have indicated that road noise has a negative effect on bird populations (particularly during breeding) in a variety of species. These effects can be significant with ‘effect distances’ (i.e., those within which the density of birds is reduced) of two to three thousand meters from the road. In these reports, the effect distances increase with the density of tra... Mehr ...