Anthrophony and proximity to wind turbines are linked to reduced rut roaring activity in Iberian red deer

Anthropogenic soundscape disturbance can constrain acoustic signalling, with potential consequences for reproductive behaviour in wild animals. We used passive acoustic monitoring to investigate how habitat, weather, and human-associated soundscape disturbance are associated with roaring activity of Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) during the rut on Lousã Mountain, central Portugal. Twenty-nine AudioMoth recorders collected 150-s recordings every 7.5 min over 14 days, yielding 88,022 manually validated roars. We quantified anthrophony as relative acoustic energy in the 1–2 kHz band and modelled roar counts using a negative binomial generalised linear mixed model. Roaring activity was highest in shrublands and other open habitats, and decreased with increasing wind speed, rainfall and temperature. Importantly, roaring declined with increasing anthrophony and increased with distance from wind turbines, suggesting a possible avoidance of a broader disturbance gradient rather than only a purely acoustic effect. Daily roaring counts also tended to be lower towards the end of the week. Our results highlight that soundscape disturbance associated with human infrastructure and activity may influence both the location and timing of males’ vocalisations during the rut, demonstrating the value of soundscape metrics for identifying rutting areas potentially sensitive to disturbance and informing appropriate mitigation strategies.