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

人为噪音已经成为保护生物学家以及那些处理人类健康和安全问题的人越来越关注的话题。环境噪音对人类健康的有害影响是众所周知的，然而，噪音污染对城市地区动物健康和健康的影响却知之甚少。迄今为止，大多数调查人为噪音对野生动物影响的研究都集中在对噪音的行为反应上。在全球范围内，高水平的人为噪音与繁殖成功率下降、物种丰富度下降以及各种分类群的发声行为变化有关。虽然描述环境噪音对自由生活物种的负面影响的出版物数量持续增长，但调查这些变化背后的因果机制的研究相对较少。拟议的研究项目将通过一系列鸣禽实验来填补这一空白，结合噪音对声乐学习和个体发育、应激生理学和繁殖成功的影响的研究。鸣禽是研究动物声音学习的主要动物模型，同时也是研究噪音听力和噪音诱发的声音可塑性最好的群体之一。该项目将是建立鸣禽作为模型系统的第一步，用于研究噪音相关压力对学习、交流和健康的负面影响的潜在机制。特别是，该项目旨在(1)研究慢性噪声暴露对鸣禽幼鸟应激生理、免疫功能、学习和发育的影响；(2)研究慢性噪声对成年鸣禽繁殖成功和健康的影响；(3)确定父母噪声诱导的应激是否会影响其后代的应激反应和端粒长度（从而影响细胞过早老化和寿命）。

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.