The following story on some fascinating ornithology research coming out of the E-Bio Department at CU Boulder appeared in the New York Times today. There is even more to the story than the Times reports, for instance, some species like House Finch and Black-chinned Hummingbird did relatively well in the noisy sites, perhaps a combination of fewer predators like Western Scrub Jays (as noted) and vocalization ranges for these species that are above the human noise range. Since initial stages of this research received support from the CFO's Project Fund, it allows me to be doubly proud.
Bill Kaempfer Boulder (Vice President of CFO and Vice Provost at CU Boulder) Some Birds Thrive In Noisy Neighborhoods 07/28/2009 New York Times Say you're a scientist trying to study the effects of human-produced noise on bird communities in the wild -- an interesting topic given how dependent birds are on vocal communication. You could choose a study area near a highway, perhaps, but that creates a problem: how to isolate the effects of noise from other effects, like the death of the occasional animal that strays onto the road. For Clinton D. Francis, a doctoral student at the University of Colorado, the solution was an area with plenty of noise but no traffic (or much else, either). The study sites were in a pinon-juniper woodland in northwestern New Mexico that is home to many natural-gas wells. Some of the wells have huge compressors that run constantly and sound like jet engines. ''They're definitely loud enough that you need ear protection if you spend even a few minutes near them,'' Mr. Francis said. Mr. Francis, with Alexander Cruz of the University of Colorado and Catherine P. Ortega of Fort Lewis College, counted bird nests near compressor sites and near quiet wells that lacked compressors. Unlike some earlier studies of the effects of road noise, they found no difference in the density of birds at both kinds of sites. But the noise did keep some kinds of birds away: the quiet sites had nests of 32 species, while only 21 species were found at compressor sites. The findings were reported in Current Biology. The researchers also studied reproductive success -- how many eggs, hatchlings and fledglings were produced at the nests. Mr. Francis said he expected that the birds at noisy sites would have less reproductive success because they would not be able to hear the sounds of predators as they approached. But the study found that noisy sites were actually more productive, probably because the major predatory bird in the area, the Western scrub jay, doesn't appear to like noise either. Very few of them were found at the noisy sites. DRAWING (DRAWING BY CHRIS GASH) Copyright (c) 2009 The New York Times Company --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
