Noisy environments can have detrimental effect on plants, study finds - The Guardian

Apr 13, 2021

Persistent noise from natural gas wells in New Mexico disrupted birds that feed on and distribute pinyon seeds.

To investigate the long-term ecological effects of persistent noise, researchers chose the Rattlesnake Canyon habitat management area in New Mexico.

Dominated by woodland plants, the area in the US south-west contains a high density of natural gas wells, some of which are coupled with compressors that run continuously and generate chronic noise at up to 100 decibels.

The vegetation and human activity across both types of wells are similar – so in 2007 one set of researchers compared vegetation in both contexts, finding that noise pollution disrupted the natural community in two ways: seedling dissemination and germination (known as recruitment) of the woodland species – pinyon pine – was reduced as the community of animals that feed upon and disperse the plant’s seeds were adversely affected.

The researchers found that pinyon seedlings were found less in noisy areas (in line with the 2007 findings) and the saplings (plants between two and 12 years old) were also less abundant in the persistently loud environment.