Is noise a pollutant?

Almost every day we write about terriblethe effects of nature pollution by human hands. All this is because lately this problem really needs to be paid more attention. More recently, we found that dirty air, in addition to adults, slowly kills every child on the planet. We also wrote what pollution of the Mariana Trench located in the Pacific Ocean could turn into. But did you know that the noise of cars and aircraft is also an environmental pollutant? This was recently reminded by researchers from Queens University, located in the British city of Belfast.

Car noise harms surely harms animals and even people

A group of scientists studied and combined the results.several scientific papers on the effect of human noise on animals. In an article published on the pages of the scientific journal Biology Letters, they announced that noise undoubtedly affects the lives of many mammals, amphibians, arthropods, and also affects insects and birds. The term "noise" scientists understand the loud sounds of vehicles like cars, planes and ships.

In addition, it is worth saying that a person is able to make noise in other ways - for example, arranging concerts in the open air and organizing construction work.

How does noise affect animals?

As an example, scientists cited floating onseas and oceans ships and the impact of the sounds they make on whales. According to the authors of the scientific work, water transport is sometimes so noisy that it suppresses the singing of whales. And repeating and melodic “songs” are necessary for animals to communicate traffic routes to each other. Due to poor hearing, some whales cease to navigate in space and are eventually thrown ashore.

A whale that has landed on the shore of the Tatar Strait in southern Sakhalin

But at the same time, researchers note thatthe noise emitted by human activity cannot be called definitely “bad” or “good”. The fact is that recently scientists found out that crickets of the Gryllus lineaticeps species use urban noise as a disguise from parasitic flies that larvae lay on their bodies. Thanks to the loud sounds of cars, male crickets are able to easily attract females with their chirping, without fear of being detected by parasites.

Cricket species Gryllus lineaticeps

But do not ignore the fact that fromOther types of insects can be affected by city noise. Some of them feel the approach of predators due to their hearing, but due to the roar of transport, they may not notice the enemy and become easy prey for them.

Do you also think that noise pollutes nature? You can share your opinion in the comments or in our Telegram chat.

In the end, the researchers announced that the authorities should seriously address the issue of noise pollution.

Noise should be considered as a serious cause of environmental changes and pollution, because loud sounds affect both aquatic and terrestrial species of animals, the scientists explained.

Do not forget that noise negatively affectsour health with you. For example, the buzz of cars and airplanes can interfere with night sleep. Due to lack of sleep, a person may experience headaches and other health problems.