Photo credit: Ed Dunens licensed under CC BY 2.0
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition
Having written about the impacts of noise on health and well-being, I know that noise pollution is experienced beyond large urban cities. A small community may soon find itself exposed to intrusive noises if the motocross raceway proposed for that town is built. If built, a small airport may expose nearby residents to aircraft noise. Jennifer Ibarra, a student at California State University at Fullerton, wondered whether increased use of nearby desert land by human communities would impact desert animals. She was especially concerned about the noises that came along with human encroachment.
She set about studying the effects of noise on the eating behavior of birds and other animals. While birds and other animals found their way to the food study sites in her study, less food was consumed in noise areas than in no-noise areas. She found that in noise areas about 20% less food was consumed, and she considered this a considerable loss in food intake. Ibarra hypothesized that “nearby noise obscured the sounds of approaching predators, and it may have been risky to remain at a site for very long to eat.” One hopes that additional studies similar to this one could be conducted to validate the findings and lead to suggestions as to how to protect desert birds and animals from harmful noises.
Iberra’s research project on noise, her ecology course, and a visit to the Desert Studies Center have motivated her to seek a career in ecology. She also notes that she was inspired by a most encouraging faculty mentor. As a professor of environmental psychology, I was especially pleased to read about this research project conducted by a college student and know from personal experiences with my own students how extremely talented students are. I wish Jennifer Iberra good luck with her advanced studies and hope to read more articles highlighting noise pollution studies conducted by college students.
