Noise pollution critically alters the physiology, behavior and survival of 80% of animal species studied worldwide.
These conclusions were reached by an international group of scientists who published a large-scale meta-analysis in the scientific journal Science.
The researchers gathered data from 214 scientific papers covering 177 species of marine and terrestrial organisms on six continents. Anthropogenic noise induces powerful cellular stress in animals, causes a sharp jump in stress hormones and distorts their physical development. As a result, populations decrease in numbers, the ability to adapt to the environment decreases and the normal food chains in the "predator-prey" system are completely broken.