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Effects of Wind Turbine Noise on Male Greater Prairie-Chicken Vocalizations and Chorus Cara E

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Effects of Wind Turbine Noise on Male Greater Prairie-Chicken Vocalizations and Chorus Cara E University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources Natural Resources, School of 12-2015 Effects of Wind Turbine Noise on Male Greater Prairie-Chicken Vocalizations and Chorus Cara E. Whalen University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/natresdiss Part of the Environmental Monitoring Commons, Natural Resource Economics Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons, Ornithology Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Whalen, Cara E., "Effects of Wind Turbine Noise on Male Greater Prairie-Chicken Vocalizations and Chorus" (2015). Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources. 127. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/natresdiss/127 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Natural Resources, School of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. EFFECTS OF WIND TURBINE NOISE ON MALE GREATER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN VOCALIZATIONS AND CHORUS by Cara E. Whalen A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science Major: Natural Resource Sciences Under the Supervision of Professors Larkin A. Powell and Mary Bomberger Brown Lincoln, Nebraska December, 2015 EFFECTS OF WIND TURBINE NOISE ON MALE GREATER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN VOCALIZATIONS AND CHORUS Cara E. Whalen, M.S. University of Nebraska, 2015 Advisors: Larkin A. Powell and Mary Bomberger Brown Wind energy facilities are constructed without full knowledge of their effects on birds, and the noise generated by wind turbines is a particular concern. I investigated the effects of wind turbine noise on male Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) vocalizations and chorus near Ainsworth, NE, USA in 2013 and 2014. I studied 14 leks located in the area surrounding a 36-turbine wind energy facility. I used two main approaches in this study. First, I recorded Greater Prairie-Chicken boom, cackle, whine, and whoop vocalizations at each of the study leks and measured the duration, sound pressure level, peak frequency, dominant frequency, fundamental frequency, bandwidth and nonlinearities of each vocalization. I used linear models to determine whether the vocalizations at leks near the wind energy facility differed from vocalizations at leks farther away. I found that within 1000 meters of the wind energy facility, boom and whoop sound pressure levels were higher, boom duration was shorter, whine fundamental frequency was higher, and cackle biphonations occurred less often. These differences suggest that male Greater Prairie-Chickens are adjusting aspects of their vocalizations in response to wind turbine noise. In the second approach, I placed audio recorders along transects extending from leks to record the sound of the Greater Prairie-Chicken chorus. I also placed audio recorders at locations in a grid formation overlaid on the wind energy facility. I created models to describe how the chorus and wind turbine noise were affected by covariates. I used the models to predict levels of the chorus and wind turbine noise and assess the potential for wind turbine noise to mask the chorus under specific scenarios. The results suggested that wind turbine noise may have the potential to mask the Greater Prairie-Chicken chorus at 296Hz under these scenarios, but the extent and degree of masking is uncertain. Many factors, including the accuracy of the masking threshold, variation in signal detection, and characteristics of the chorus, may affect the masking assessment. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my outstanding advisors, Larkin Powell and Mary Bomberger Brown, for providing exceptional guidance and support. They always found the time in their busy schedules for meetings and to answer questions. Larkin and Mary have served as excellent mentors and role models and I will continue to recognize and appreciate their teachings for years to come. I thank Ed Walsh and JoAnn McGee for their instrumental help with the acoustics aspect of this project. I thank Dan Leger and Jen Smith for their invaluable assistance and input. I thank the Nebraska Public Power District and the numerous private landowners for graciously providing access to the study site. I would also like to express my appreciation for the staff of the School of Natural Resources who keep everything in the department running smoothly. I would like to thank the field technicians without whom this project would not have been possible. Maggie DeLauter withstood countless mornings in a frigid blind collecting vocalization data. Elsie Shogren, Nate Turner and Jackie Mather assisted with the important task of moving audio recorders around on the landscape. I would like to express my gratitude for Ian Hoppe, Michelle Dvoracek and Marisa Braddock, who did an outstanding job helping me to analyze what felt like endless gigabytes of sound files. I am grateful to my lab mates and fellow graduate students for their friendships and for making this time enjoyable. I thank Josh Rice for putting up with my long hours in the office and for always being understanding, encouraging and caring. Lastly, I thank my family for their support, especially Nina Whalen for never failing to brighten my day. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. i TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ x LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................................ xviii PRIMER .............................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1. ANALYSIS OF MALE GREATER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN VOCALIZATIONS ............................................................................................................ 6 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ 6 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 7 Objective ................................................................................................... 10 FIELD METHODS ............................................................................................... 10 Study site ................................................................................................... 10 Recording vocalizations ............................................................................ 11 ACOUSTIC CHARACTERISTIC MEASUREMENTS ...................................... 13 Selection of vocalizations ......................................................................... 13 Measurement of vocalization acoustic characteristics .............................. 13 Calculation of sound pressure level from maximum power ..................... 14 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ................................................................................ 15 RESULTS ............................................................................................................. 16 Qualitative description .............................................................................. 16 Quantitative description ............................................................................ 17 DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................... 18 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 22 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................. 23 LITERATURE CITED ......................................................................................... 23 TABLES ............................................................................................................... 28 FIGURES .............................................................................................................. 30 iii CHAPTER 2. THE EFFECTS OF WIND TURBINE NOISE ON MALE GREATER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN VOCALIZATIONS ....................................................................... 39 ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... 39 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 40 Objective ................................................................................................... 44 STUDY SITE ........................................................................................................ 45 RECORDING AND MEASURING VOCALIZATION DATA .......................... 46 ASSESSING EFFECTS OF DISTANCE-TO-TURBINE ................................... 47 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ................................................................................ 49 RESULTS ............................................................................................................
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