Data from: Large-scale manipulation of the acoustic environment can alter the abundance of breeding birds: evidence from a phantom natural gas field ...

• Main Authors: Cinto-Mejia, Elizeth, McClure, Christopher J. W., Barber, Jesse R.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2019
• Subjects: songbird abundance; Spizella breweri; sagebrush steppe; noise pollution; Oreoscoptes montanus; Eremophila alpestris; oil and gas development; Artemisiospiza nevadensis; Sturnella neglecta; noise exposure; Populations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7d069p5; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.7d069p5

1. Altered animal distributions are a consequence of human expansion and development. Anthropogenic noise can be an important predictor of abundance declines near human infrastructure, yet more information is needed to understand noise impacts at the spatial and temporal scales necessary to alter populations. 2. Energy development and associated anthropogenic noise are globally pervasive, and expanding. For example, 600,000 new natural gas wells have been drilled across central North America in less than twenty years. 3. We experimentally broadcast energy sector noise (recordings of compressor engines) in Southwest Idaho (USA). We placed arrays of speakers creating a "phantom natural gas field" in a large-scale experiment, and tested the effects of noise alone on breeding songbird abundance. To examine variation in human-caused noise, we broadcast two types of compressor noise, one with a slightly higher sound intensity and greater bandwidth than the other. 4. Our phantom natural gas field encompassed ... : Phantom Gas Field bird abundance dataThese data were collected in the field and includes the bird counts from both seasons in 2014 and 2015. Column Station refers to the name of the site (16 sites in 2014, and 12 in 2015), Point Id refers to the specific point count location within the site (station):50 m count center or 250 m from the center. Month column indicates the month number (4=April), LEQ_median and L50 median refer to the monthly median sound levels, Point indicates the point count location in the site: 0=50 m and 1=250m, Species refers to the bird species: BRSP (Brewer's sparrow), HOLA (Horned lark), WEME (Western meadowlark), SABS (Sagebrush sparrow), SATH (Sage thrasher). Treatment 0=control, and treatment 1= noise site. Bird count= number of birds counted per point count event. Sagecover_percent=percent of sagebrush cover at each site.CintoMejiaetal_birddata.xlsx ...