We live in a fast paced world where continued growth in transportation, power generation, industrial facilities, urban development, and their associated construction and operation are all known sources of anthropogenic noise and vibration. Remote or naturally quiet areas previously unpolluted by human generated noise are continually at risk and understanding the potential impacts of any change in noise on wildlife can be an important requirement in the approvals process for any new or expanding project.
Anthropogenic noise and vibration has the potential to impact terrestrial fauna over a number of biological and behavioural pathways depending on the animals hearing sensitivity and proximity to the noise. Animals rely on sound to communicate, navigate, avoid danger and forage/hunt for food against a soundscape of existing noise. Interference with this through anthropogenic noise and vibration has the potential to:
- Increase physiological stressors (hormonal, organ function)
- Cause behavioural changes (abandoning offspring, alertness, sleep disturbance)
- Permanently or temporarily damage hearing.
- Prevent/interfere with communication, such as bat echolocation, bird, frog, and insect calls.
- Impact reproductive fecundity.
- Cause animal avoidance of an area (habitat fragmentation, reduced usage, distribution).
- Increase mortality/decrease survivorship.
To assess the potential impacts of anthropogenic noise and vibration on terrestrial fauna (domestic and wildlife) requires an understanding of the character of the noise source being generated, and the animal’s communication, behaviour, habitat, sensitivity to noise and vibration, and the hearing range and frequency of the species (audiogram) likely to be impacted.
GHD offers a holistic approach to understanding the impact of noise and vibration on wildlife, with close collaboration between our acoustic, planning, and ecological teams. Our services include:
- Literature reviews.
- Project environmental assessment and permitting.
- Pre-construction ecological surveys e.g. insect, rodent, bat, bird, frog, lizard, and gecko surveys.
- Identification of critical species and habitats within the study area.
- Pre-construction noise surveys, including monitoring of baseline/background noise.
- Noise modelling over the frequencies of interest relevant to the noise sources.
- Species specific assessment and ecological risk assessment.
- Environmental management, mitigation, and monitoring plans.
- Preparation of noise and fauna reports.
- Post-construction ecological and noise and vibration monitoring and compliance checks.
