Overview:

Noise pollution is an increasingly pervasive environmental challenge, with demonstrated effects on animal communication and behavior. For Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), male parents providing food is largely influenced by auditory cues from nestlings. I studied whether noise from highways interfered with male provisioning behavior by masking auditory signals from nestlings. These results may also offer insight to highway departments, urban planners, and developers of other human-made structures in designing and routing infrastructure to reduce the effects of noise pollution on wildlife.

About our speaker:

Facundo Fernandez-Duque is a student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a recipient of a 2025 Kendeigh Grant from CCAS.