Mining noise affects Rufous-Collared Sparrow (Zonothichia capensis) vocalizations

Abstract

Mining activity generates noise through explosions, traffic, machinery, alert signals, etc. Noise affects the behavior of many species that depends on acoustic communication. Our objective was to verify if the noise produced by truck traffic affects rufous-collared sparrow vocalizations. Data were collected in an Atlantic forest fragment located close to a mine at the Peti Environmental Station, in Southeast Brazil. Two digital field recorders (SM2—Wildlife Acoustics) were installed 150m from each other and 25 m from a mining road. The SM2 were set to record at 44.1kHz, from 05:00 to 09:00 am during seven days in October 2012. Using Raven pro 1.4, maximum and minimum frequencies, number of notes and duration of the Z. capensis songs were extracted from the recordings one minute before, one after and during the passage of trucks. Trucks noise spectral measurements were also extracted. The species decreased the duration (H = 17.8, gl = 2, p<0.05), the bandwidth (H = 36.28, gl = 2, p<0.05) and the maximum frequency (H = 24.45, gl = 2, p<0.05) and increased the minimum frequency of the calls (H = 25.34, gl = 2, p<0.05) during exposure to truck noise. These results indicate that noise can affect the vocal behavior of the species and reveal the need to address the acoustic impact of mining on animal species.