Human-made noise pollution can affect plant life

BBC : Industrial noise can affect the growth of plants and trees, and thus transform landscapes over time, according to a US research team that published results of its experiments in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Industrial noise, the team reports, can disrupt the animals that disperse the seeds. As part of their study, Clinton Francis from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina and colleagues investigated the effect of noise on the piñon pine ( Pinus edulis) in the Rattlesnake Canyon Habitat Management Area in New Mexico, where there is a high density of natural-gas wells. The researchers scattered pine cones in the area and recorded the animals that took the seeds. They found that mice liked the noisy sites, whereas Western scrub jays avoided them. Such behavior could be bad news for the trees because the seeds eaten by mice don’t survive to germinate. In another experiment, however, the researchers found that hummingbirds actually prefer the industrial din, possibly because it drives away birds that prey on their nestlings.