The effect of wind-turbine induced vibration on the reproductive behavior of the endangered American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus)

Ambient noise has been shown to impair sender-receiver signal transmission by masking the salient information encoded in the signal and rendering it inaccessible. These masking effects can overwhelm the sensory system, resulting in increased latency to respond and higher response error rates. For animals using vibrational communication, a variety of natural and anthropogenic sources of noise can introduce interference. Wind turbines have been shown to produce intense (>100 VdB) seismic noise in the infrasound range (<25 Hz.), but little is known regarding how this vibrational disturbance influences behavior in subterranean animals. To test the sensory pollution hypothesis and assess the effect of wind turbine-induced vibration on the reproductive behavior of the subsoil breeding American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus), we used laser Doppler vibrometry to characterize the seismic environment at discrete distances from the turbine base, and replicated these environments in controlled breeding experiments using vibrational transducers. We found no difference in overall fecundity between treatments (80, 95, 100 VdB) and control, but carcass burial latency increased from 24.0 ±0 h in controls to 51.11 ±26.21 h in the treatment (T = 3.43, df = 10, P = 0.0064). Our data suggest that while wind energy arrays may provide burying beetles a novel and rich source of carrion, the seismic environment associated with these developments may pose sensory challenges to its exploitation.