Noise pollution alters ecological services: enhanced pollination and disrupted seed dispersal.

ABSTRACT: Noise pollution is a novel, widespread environmental force that has recently been shown to alter the behaviour and distribution of birds and other vertebrates, yet whether noise has cumulative, community-level consequences by changing critical ecological services is unknown. Herein, we examined the effects of noise pollution on pollination and seed dispersal and seedling establishment within a study system that isolated the effects of noise from confounding stimuli common to human-altered landscapes. Using observations, vegetation surveys and pollen transfer and seed removal experiments, we found that effects of noise pollution can reverberate through communities by disrupting or enhancing these ecological services. Specifically, noise pollution indirectly increased artificial flower polli

SUBMITTER: Francis CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3367785 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature