Public release date: 14-Dec-2012
Wildlife Conservation Society
If you cut down a tree in the forest, can wildlife hear it?
WCS and partners develop method to discern how landscape features affect dispersion of noise and distribution of wildlife
BOZEMAN, MT (December 13, 2012) – A new tool developed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and its partners is being used by scientists and land managers to model how noise travels through landscapes and affects species and ecosystems— a major factor in land and wildlife management decisions such as where to locate new roads or recreational trails.
The tool, SPreAD-GIS, uses spatial data layers to predict how sound spreads from a source through the surrounding landscape and how it is affected by such factors as vegetation, terrain, weather conditions, and background sound levels. By determining how sound propagates, potential impacts to wildlife can be forecasted. Such impacts can include reducing habitat quality, altering the geographic distribution of species, disrupting animal communication, and causing stress.
In an example discussed in the paper, the sensitivities of humans and owls to motor vehicle sound levels were compared. The results of the SPreAD-GIS analysis showed that in the same location, motor vehicle noise would affect owls in an area 45 percent larger than the area affected for humans. Exposure to noise may affect an owl's livelihood as the animal relies on its acute sense of hearing to detect even the slightest movement of its prey.
WCS Scientist Sarah Reed said, "Exposure to human-caused noise can change the game for many species. Those species that are less tolerant of noise can be put at a disadvantage and ultimately, this may result in a loss in biodiversity. By predicting what the effects of sound will be on a bird or mammal species in advance, we can more adequately balance our land-use planning decisions with conservation considerations."
Reed and colleagues are currently using SPreAD-GIS and field measurements of motor vehicle noise to forecast the area affected for bird and mammal communities in the Sierra National Forest in California. In addition, the model has been downloaded by hundreds of users in more than 25 countries and used for diverse education, research, and management applications. This includes modeling potential noise propagation from roads, recreational activity, heavy equipment, residential development, and natural resource extraction.
Reed added, "Most existing tools are used to understand noise in human-dominated environments and don't incorporate factors affecting noise propagation in natural systems. This tool is free and relatively user-friendly for the average desktop GIS user, and comes at a time when ecologists are just beginning to understand the critical role that sound disturbances play in affecting wildlife."
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Reed started the SPreAD-GIS project as a scientist with The Wilderness Society (TWS) and completed it as a Smith Conservation Research Fellow and WCS employee. The model is available for download from TWS's Landscape Collaborative (www.landscapecollaborative.org) website.The tool is described in the November print edition of the journal Environmental Modeling & Software. Authors include Sarah E. Reed of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Colorado State University, Jennifer L. Boggs, formerly of The Wilderness Society, and Jacob P. Mann.
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2 comments:
I never thought about owls being incompatible with wind farms. But, it makes sense. They seek prey at night and they rely more on their sense of hearing than sight. I know this is contrary to misconception about an owls nighttime vision.
I would even venture to guess that owls are more successful in their feeding forays during those nights with stable atmospherics, with low to no wind and very quiet conditions. Hardly a mouse could move in the leafy underbrush without an owl finding a meal.
But, how their world would change if their habitat were to become the home to a wind project. Those low wind, otherwise quiet nights would now have sound levels comparable to daytime. I would not want to suggest that it would be impossible for an owl to find and capture prey under those conditions, but no doubt it would have an adverse impact and make it more difficult for owls to forage.
After seven years of dealing with the impacts of wind development, we still have much to learn. What next, hawks having their visual fields disturbed by the movement of turbine blades thereby reducing their feeding efficiency?
What this post highlights, and thank you Pandora, is that bird and bat impacts from wind are not all related to mortality. If the quality of habitats are altered and diminished, wildlife will flee and seek other, more compatible environs. Kind of like the Okies during the Dust Bowl days. Yeah, that is a good analogy. Industrial wind in Cape Vincent will become equivalent to the lower prairies of the U.S. in the Dust Bowl 30s.
I would hope that the Article 10 Siting Board would give some attention to the fact that Cape Vincent is the home to more than its taxpaying, biped residents.
Go cuomo Go.
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