Noise Pollution Affects Plants, Too

Noise Pollution Affects Plants, Too

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Facing an ever-increasing din of background noise from traffic and other human activities, many animals are adapting by changing their behavior or just moving to quitter locales. In turn, noise pollution is altering the landscape of plants and trees, which depend on noise-affected animals to pollinate them and spread their seeds.

Some plants do worse in noisy areas, a study found, while others seem to do better, depending on how the community of creatures around them changes. Either way, the ripple effects can be far-reaching and long lasting, especially for trees, which often take decades to grow from seedlings into adults.