Fondazione Edmund Mach - Italia

(MSCA) How human-made noise affects wildlife.

Human-made noise impacts wildlife populations by disrupting their natural soundscapes. Understanding how noise affects wildlife’s ecological niches is essential to protect biodiversity. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the WildSOUND project investigates the impacts of human-made noise on wildlife in Alpine ecosystems, with a particular focus on mammals. The research aims to promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems in alignment with UN SDG 15 and the Horizon Europe programme. Using an extensive array of acoustic recorders, it will measure sound levels and identify sources of anthropogenic noise. It will also assess the behavioural and physiological effects of anthropogenic noise on wildlife and conduct controlled experiments to provide comprehensive insights.

Sound plays a critical role in many species behaviour and their intra and inter specific interactions, thus disruption of animal soundscapes due to anthropogenic noise has led to significant negative impacts on wildlife populations. Although, in terrestrial environments, anthropogenic noise is recognized as a major pollutant, regulations are targeted towards human wellbeing and often not relevant to wild populations. Hence, it is critical to better understand how noise influences and disrupts wildlife ecological niches.

This project will take an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the ecoacoustic dimension of human and terrestrial wildlife interactions, focussing on mammals (currently underrepresented in the bioacoustic literature).
Specifically, the project will evaluate how anthropogenic noise perturbates wildlife species ecological niches in Alpine ecosystems and what are the mechanism and the consequences of such perturbation on animal behaviour and performance.

I will use a large array of acoustic recorders to measure sound levels variation across anthropic gradients and identify sources of anthropogenic noise (including outdoor sports). First, acoustic data will be integrated with a similar array of camera traps to investigate how noise levels affect the spatio-temporal occurrence of wildlife. Second, I will use biologging data and hormonal stress levels from faecal samples to assess the behavioural and physiological consequences of anthropogenic noise exposure.
Finally, I will use a controlled experiment to disentangle the role of auditory and visual cues, and their interaction, in the elicitation of animal behavioural responses to anthropogenic disturbance. I will complement my expertis in bioacoustics with training in camera trapping, biologging and modelling.

The knowledge generated in this action will inform and support the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems (UN SDG 15, HE Cluster6 and NextGenerationEU).