Identifying noise disturbance by roads on wildlife: a case study in central Iran

Noise is a spatially extensive pollutant with recognized impacts on habitats and wildlife species. Expansion of roads into protected areas and wild places is contemplated as a major source of noise pollution whose measurement can shed light on the impacts of road traffic noise pollution on habitats and species. In this research, the SPreAD-GIS was employed to model road traffic noise propagation in Mouteh Wildlife Refuge, central Iran, independently for cold (winter and autumn) and warm (summer and spring) seasons. The MaxEnt model was also used to characterize the potential suitability of habitat for Persian gazelle. Finally, the noise-affected habitats were identified using the overlay method. According to the results, 53,461 ha of the wildlife refuge was characterized as highly suitable habitats, of which noise-affected areas accounted for 1522 ha (283 ha with a high noise level) during the cold seasons and 1159.8 ha (246 ha with a high noise level) during the warm seasons of the year. Field surveys showed that most populations responded to noise pollution by preserving distance from high-level noise (40 dB <) regions, indicating that high-level noise-affected habitats of Persian gazelle have been functionally lost. This study indicated that the identification of the affected habitats and populations through modeling can be an appropriate and cost-effective means to determine the primary species response to traffic noise and minimize its adverse impacts for sustainably managing wildlife populations.