Human voices near salmon streams made bears and eagles flee, study finds
Research conducted in Alaska and Canada shows that human voices and vehicle noise cause bears and eagles to flee, disrupting their feeding patterns. This behavior change impacts the distribution of marine nutrients in forest ecosystems.
Why it matters
Understanding how human noise pollution affects wildlife is critical for conservation efforts and maintaining the health of temperate rainforest ecosystems.
Playing recorded human voices near Alaska’s salmon streams causes bears and eagles to run away, disturbing the natural process that carries important marine nutrients deep into nearby forests.A series of experiments by the Pacific Northwest Research Station in the Héen Latinee Experimental Forest near Juneau, Alaska, found that even the sound of human activity changes when and where wildlife searches for food. Because important predators help move nutrients through forest ecosystems, their reaction to human sounds changes where key nutrients like nitrogen are left behind.This US research matches a large Canadian study published in Ecology & Evolution. Led by Dr Megan Adams from the University of Victoria and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, the Canadian team studied 226 grizzly bears across 22 watersheds in British Columbia.
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