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New research led by the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) reveals how noise pollution is impacting birds globally.

Natalie Madden (MS '20), the lead author of the new study, launched the analysis while pursuing a master's degree in SEAS. She says that the major takeaway is that anthropogenic noise affects many aspects of bird behavior, and that some responses are more directly tied to fitness. Madden, who is now a conservation science and policy analyst with Defenders of Wildlife, explains that birds rely heavily on acoustic information and can miss signals due to loud noises in the environment. Noises made by humans from traffic, construction and other activities impact their behavior, physiology and even their reproduction.

The extensive analysis encompassed data from more than 150 studies published since 1990. The studies covered 160 bird species from six continents. 

Neil Carter, associate professor at SEAS, was the study's senior author. He says that the good news is that this can be turned into a positive. 

“By synthesizing across these studies in a meta-analysis, we find that there are predictable effects,” he said. “And if we can predict them, then we can mitigate them, we can reduce them, we can reverse them.”

The study’s U-M collaborators included Kirby Mills, postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Global Change Biology, and Karen Alofs, associate professor at SEAS. Clinton Francis, associate professor of biological sciences at California Polytechnic State University, was also a co-author.

Read the full press release on the Michigan News website.

Study: Trait mediated effects of anthropogenic noise on bird behavior and fitness (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.2521)