Noise pollution not only alters the behaviour of individual animals, it can also have a wider impact on ecosystems.

Credit: PRISMA BILDAGENTUR/ALAMY

Clinton Francis at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina, and his colleagues studied how noise levels affect the hummingbird Archilochus alexandri and the jay Aphelocoma californica (pictured) in an area of New Mexico that has a large number of gas wells. Increased noise from wells equipped with noisy compressors boosted the pollination of artificial flowers by the hummingbirds, but lowered the number of jays, which disperse pinyon (Pinus edulis) seeds. At the noisier sites, the numbers of pinyon seedlings were just one-quarter of those recorded by the authors at quiet sites. The authors link this shortage to the relative scarcity of jays.

Proc. R. Soc. B http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.0230 (2012)