Impacts of anthropogenic sounds on bird call activities: A case study in Aachen, Germany

Engel, Margret; Leedale, Amy; Young, Robert; Davies, William; Wood, Michael

Abstract

Since the definition of the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC, various tools, reports, and action plans have
been developed to assess and improve the sonic environment according to human perception and well-being. Few methodologies and reports consider the measurement of the impacts of anthropogenic sounds on wildlife at a European level. Noise pollution can impact communication, species richness, reproductive success, population size and distribution of wildlife. This study aims to analyse the impacts of anthropogenic sounds on birds in three parks and one public garden with different sizes and functionalities in Aachen, Germany. The data collection happened between 2015 and 2016 through soundwalks and sampled 192 omnidirectional recordings. The analyses of impacts consider: 1) acoustic, bioacoustic and psychoacoustic characterisation of the sonic environments; 2) birds call detection and characterisation using BirdNET, type of vocalisation and richness estimations at each location; 3) dominance of anthropogenic sounds in the sampled recordings; 4) assessment of the sound thresholds for humans, as well as the quality of the Quietness Suitability Index (QSI) for quiet areas (EEA, 2014), are considered. The results show an attempt to assess anthropogenic noise impacts on urban wildlife, aiming for a healthy urban sonic environment for humans and wildlife.

Citation

Engel, M., Leedale, A., Young, R., Davies, W., & Wood, M. (2023). Impacts of anthropogenic sounds on bird call activities: A case study in Aachen, Germany. https://doi.org/10.61782/fa.2023.0912

• Journal Article Type: Conference Paper
• Conference Name: 10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association
• Conference Location: Turin
• Acceptance Date: Aug 8, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Sep 11, 2023
• Publication Date: Sep 11, 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 9, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 12, 2023
• Journal: Proceedings of the 10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association Forum Acusticum 2023
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.61782/fa.2023.0912
• Publisher URL: https://www.fa2023.org/