The impact of chronic traffic noise on birds: vocal learning, health, and fitness

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Anthropogenic noise has become a topic of increasing concern to conservation biologists as well as to those dealing with issues of human health and safety. The detrimental effects of environmental noise on human health are well recognized, however, very little is known about the effect of noise pollution on the health and fitness of animals in urban areas. To date, most studies investigating the impact of anthropogenic noise on wild animals have focused on behavioural responses to noise. Across the globe, high levels of anthropogenic noise have been linked with decreased breeding success, species richness, and changes in vocal behaviour in a variety of taxa. While the number of publications describing negative effects of en¬vironmental noise on free-living species continues to grow, there are relatively few studies that investigate the causal mechanisms underlying these changes. The proposed research project will fill this gap with a series of experiments on songbirds, combining studies on the impact of noise on vocal learning and ontogeny, stress physiology, and reproductive success. Songbirds are the primary animal model for the study of vocal learning in animals and at the same one of the best studied groups regarding hearing in noise and noise-induced vocal plasticity. The proposed project will be a first step towards establishing songbirds as a model system for investigating the mechanisms underlying the negative impact of noise-related stress on learning, communication, and fitness. In particular, the proposed project aims to (1) examine the impact of chronic noise exposure on the stress physiology, immune function, learning and development of juvenile songbirds, (2) to investigate the effect of chronic noise on reproductive success and health in adult songbirds, and (3) to determine if noise-induced stress in parents affects the stress response and telomere length (and thus premature cell ageing and longevity) in their offspring.