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Blackburn G, Ashton BJ, Thornton A, Woodiss-Field S, Ridley AR. Cognition mediates response to anthropogenic noise in wild Western Australian magpies (Gmynorhina tibicen dorsalis). GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:6912-6930. [PMID: 37846601 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Revised: 09/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic noise is a pollutant of growing concern, with wide-ranging effects on taxa across ecosystems. Until recently, studies investigating the effects of anthropogenic noise on animals focused primarily on population-level consequences, rather than individual-level impacts. Individual variation in response to anthropogenic noise may result from extrinsic or intrinsic factors. One such intrinsic factor, cognitive performance, varies between individuals and is hypothesised to aid behavioural response to novel stressors. Here, we combine cognitive testing, behavioural focals and playback experiments to investigate how anthropogenic noise affects the behaviour and anti-predator response of Western Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen dorsalis), and to determine whether this response is linked to cognitive performance. We found a significant population-level effect of anthropogenic noise on the foraging effort, foraging efficiency, vigilance, vocalisation rate and anti-predator response of magpies, with birds decreasing their foraging, vocalisation behaviours and anti-predator response, and increasing vigilance when loud anthropogenic noise was present. We also found that individuals varied in their response to playbacks depending on their cognitive performance, with individuals that performed better in an associative learning task maintaining their anti-predator response when an alarm call was played in anthropogenic noise. Our results add to the growing body of literature documenting the adverse effects of anthropogenic noise on wildlife and provide the first evidence for an association between individual cognitive performance and behavioural responses to anthropogenic noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace Blackburn
- Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Benjamin J Ashton
- Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Alex Thornton
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
| | - Sarah Woodiss-Field
- Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Amanda R Ridley
- Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
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Liu Q, Gelok E, Fontein K, Slabbekoorn H, Riebel K. An experimental test of chronic traffic noise exposure on parental behaviour and reproduction in zebra finches. Biol Open 2022; 11:274974. [PMID: 35388881 PMCID: PMC9002793 DOI: 10.1242/bio.059183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic traffic noise is increasingly recognised as a potential hazard to wildlife. Several songbird species have been shown to breed poorly in traffic noise exposed habitats. However, identifying whether noise is causal in this requires experimental approaches. We tested whether experimental exposure to chronic traffic noise affected parental behaviour and reproductive success in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). In a counterbalanced repeated-measures design, breeding pairs were exposed to continuous playback of one of two types of highway noise previously shown to be either neutral (control) or aversive. Parental nest attendance positively correlated with feeding effort and was higher for the aversive than the control sound and this effect was more pronounced for parents attending larger broods. However, neither noise condition affected offspring number, growth or body mass. The absence of an effect held when we combined our data with data from two other comparable studies into a meta-analysis. We discuss whether the increased nest attendance could be a compensatory strategy that alleviated detrimental noise effects on the chicks, and whether it could be caused by impaired parent-offspring or within-pair communication. Future work should test these hypotheses and investigate potential long-term costs of increased parental engagement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quanxiao Liu
- Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, 2333 BE, The Netherlands
| | - Esther Gelok
- Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, 2333 BE, The Netherlands
| | - Kiki Fontein
- Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, 2333 BE, The Netherlands
| | - Hans Slabbekoorn
- Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, 2333 BE, The Netherlands
| | - Katharina Riebel
- Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, 2333 BE, The Netherlands
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Pandit MM, Eapen J, Pineda-Sabillon G, Caulfield ME, Moreno A, Wilhelm J, Ruyle JE, Bridge ES, Proppe DS. Anthropogenic noise alters parental behavior and nestling developmental patterns, but not fledging condition. Behav Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arab015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Anthropogenic noise is a ubiquitous feature of the American landscape, and is a known stressor for many bird species, leading to negative effects in behavior, physiology, reproduction, and ultimately fitness. While a number of studies have examined how anthropogenic noise affects avian fitness, there are few that simultaneously examine how anthropogenic noise impacts the relationship between parental care behavior and nestling fitness. We conducted Brownian noise playbacks for 6 h a day during the nesting cycle on Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) nest boxes to investigate if experimentally elevated noise affected parental care behavior, nestling body conditions, and nestling stress indices. We documented nest attendance by adult females using radio frequency identification (RFID), and we assessed nestling stress by measuring baseline corticosterone levels and telomere lengths. Based on the RFID data collected during individual brood cycles, adult bluebirds exposed to noise had significantly higher feeding rates earlier in the brood cycle than adults in the control group, but reduced feeding rates later in the cycle. Nestlings exposed to noise had higher body conditions than the control nestlings at 11 days of age, but conditions equalized between treatments by day 14. We found no differences in nestling baseline corticosterone levels or nestling telomere lengths between the two treatment groups. Our results revealed that noise altered adult behavior, which corresponded with altered nestling body condition. However, the absence of indicators of longer-term effects of noise on offspring suggests adult behavior may have been a short-term response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meelyn Mayank Pandit
- Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
- Oklahoma Biological Survey, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
| | - James Eapen
- Biology Department, Calvin University, SE, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
| | | | - Margaret E Caulfield
- Biology Department, Calvin University, SE, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
- MSU College of Human Medicine, Grand Rapids Research Center, The Department of Translational Neuroscience, NW, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
| | - Alexander Moreno
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
- Advanced Radar Research Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
| | - Jay Wilhelm
- Russ College of Engineering and Technology, Ohio University, Stocker Center, Athens, OH, USA
| | - Jessica E Ruyle
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
- Advanced Radar Research Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
| | - Eli S Bridge
- Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
- Oklahoma Biological Survey, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
| | - Darren S Proppe
- Biology Department, Calvin University, SE, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
- Wild Basin Creative Research Center, Austin, TX, USA
- School of Natural Sciences, St. Edwards University, Austin, TX, USA
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