Soundscapes are the array of natural and anthropogenic sounds occurring in an area, and can consist of both natural and human derived components. In this study, we compared soundscapes in wetlands disturbed by road-traffic noise to wetlands distant from major roads. In each wetland, above-water and below-water soundscapes were recorded in Spring, Summer, and Fall. Wetlands near roads had higher sound intensity, more anthropogenic noise occurrences, and lower acoustic diversity above and below the water. In contrast, wetlands distant from roads had more natural sounds above and below the water, including a higher number of birdcalls. When soundscapes were subdivided by frequency, most anthropogenic sounds occurred in low frequencies (0–5 kHz), but natural sounds were found in all frequencies. Soundscapes changed during the year, with more natural sounds occurring in Spring and the highest acoustic diversity recorded in Spring and Fall. These findings indicate that nearby roads change wetland soundscapes by increasing noise pollution, which masks natural sounds such as bird calls and reduces biodiversity. The altered soundscapes of freshwater wetlands, near roads potentially could alter biotic communities by affecting animal behavior such as intraspecies communication, interaction of predator and their prey, and resource acquisition.

音景是在一个区域中发生的自然和人为声音的阵列，可以包含自然和人为成分。在这项研究中，我们将受到交通噪音干扰的湿地与远离主要道路的湿地的声景进行了比较。在每个湿地中，在春季，夏季和秋季记录了水上和水下的声景。道路附近的湿地具有更高的声强，更多的人为噪声发生，以及水面上下的声波多样性较低。相比之下，远离道路的湿地在水面上下都具有更多的自然声音，包括更多的鸟叫声。当按频率细分音景时，大多数人为声音都发生在低频（0-5 kHz）中，但是在所有频率中都发现了自然声音。声景在一年中发生了变化，在春季出现更多自然声音，在春季和秋季记录最高的声音多样性。这些发现表明，附近的道路通过增加噪声污染来改变湿地的声景，从而掩盖了鸟叫之类的自然声音并减少了生物多样性。淡水湿地，道路附近的声景发生变化，可能会通过影响动物行为，例如种间交流，捕食者与其猎物的相互作用以及资源获取，来改变生物群落。