scholarly journals Intrapopulation variation in the behavioral responses of dwarf mongooses to anthropogenic noise

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 680-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Eastcott ◽  
Julie M Kern ◽  
Amy Morris-Drake ◽  
Andrew N Radford
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
Dominance Status ◽  
Substantial Evidence ◽  
Intrapopulation Variation ◽  
Age Class ◽  
Ambient Sound ◽  
Global Pollutant ◽  
Response Variation ◽  
Future Work

Abstract Anthropogenic noise is an increasingly widespread pollutant, with a rapidly burgeoning literature demonstrating impacts on humans and other animals. However, most studies have simply considered if there is an effect of noise, examining the overall cohort response. Although substantial evidence exists for intraspecific variation in responses to other anthropogenic disturbances, this possibility has received relatively little experimental attention with respect to noise. Here, we used field-based playbacks with dwarf mongooses (Helogale parvula) to test how traffic noise affects vigilance behavior and to examine potential variation between individuals of different age class, sex, and dominance status. Foragers exhibited a stronger immediate reaction and increased their subsequent vigilance (both that on the ground and as a sentinel) in response to traffic-noise playback compared with ambient-sound playback. Traffic-noise playback also resulted in sentinels conducting longer bouts and being more likely to change post height or location than in ambient-sound playback. Moreover, there was evidence of variation in noise responses with respect to age class and dominance status but not sex. In traffic noise, foraging pups were more likely to flee and were slower to resume foraging than adults; they also tended to increase their vigilance more than adults. Dominants were more likely than subordinates to move post during sentinel bouts conducted in traffic-noise trials. Our findings suggest that the vigilance–foraging trade-off is affected by traffic noise but that individuals differ in how they respond. Future work should, therefore, consider intrapopulation response variation to understand fully the population-wide effects of this global pollutant.

scholarly journals Motorboat noise impacts parental behaviour and offspring survival in a reef fish

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1856) ◽  
pp. 20170143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie L. Nedelec ◽  
Andrew N. Radford ◽  
Leanne Pearl ◽  
Brendan Nedelec ◽  
Mark I. McCormick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reef Fish ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Parental Behaviour ◽  
Repeated Observations ◽  
Ambient Sound ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Global Pollutant ◽  
Brood Guarding

Anthropogenic noise is a pollutant of international concern, with mounting evidence of disturbance and impacts on animal behaviour and physiology. However, empirical studies measuring survival consequences are rare. We use a field experiment to investigate how repeated motorboat-noise playback affects parental behaviour and offspring survival in the spiny chromis ( Acanthochromis polyacanthus ), a brooding coral reef fish. Repeated observations were made for 12 days at 38 natural nests with broods of young. Exposure to motorboat-noise playback compared to ambient-sound playback increased defensive acts, and reduced both feeding and offspring interactions by brood-guarding males. Anthropogenic noise did not affect the growth of developing offspring, but reduced the likelihood of offspring survival; while offspring survived at all 19 nests exposed to ambient-sound playback, six of the 19 nests exposed to motorboat-noise playback suffered complete brood mortality. Our study, providing field-based experimental evidence of the consequences of anthropogenic noise, suggests potential fitness consequences of this global pollutant.

scholarly journals Impacts of additional noise on the social interactions of a cooperatively breeding fish

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 210982
Author(s):  
Ines Braga Goncalves ◽  
Emily Richmond ◽  
Harry R. Harding ◽  
Andrew N. Radford
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Experimental Testing ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
Dominant Male ◽  
The Social ◽  
Additional Noise ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Global Pollutant ◽  
Model Fish Species ◽  
Model Fish

Anthropogenic noise is a global pollutant known to affect the behaviour of individual animals in all taxa studied. However, there has been relatively little experimental testing of the effects of additional noise on social interactions between conspecifics, despite these forming a crucial aspect of daily life for most species. Here, we use established paradigms to investigate how white-noise playback affects both group defensive actions against an intruder and associated within-group behaviours in a model fish species, the cooperatively breeding cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher . Additional noise did not alter defensive behaviour, but did result in changes to within-group behaviour. Both dominant and subordinate females, but not the dominant male, exhibited less affiliation and showed a tendency to produce more submissive displays to groupmates when there was additional noise compared with control conditions. Thus, our experimental results indicate the potential for anthropogenic noise to affect social interactions between conspecifics and emphasize the possibility of intraspecific variation in the impacts of this global pollutant.

scholarly journals Traffic noise exposure depresses plasma corticosterone and delays offspring growth in breeding zebra finches

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Anne Zollinger ◽  
Adriana Dorado-Correa ◽  
Wolfgang Goymann ◽  
Wolfgang Forstmeier ◽  
Ulrich Knief ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Noise Exposure ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Plasma Corticosterone ◽  
World Health ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Offspring Growth ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The impact of human activity on the acoustic environment is overwhelming, with anthropogenic noise reaching even remote areas of the planet. The World Health Organization has identified noise pollution as one of the leading environmental health risks in humans, and it has been linked to a myriad of short- and long-term health effects in exposed individuals. However, less is known about the health effects of anthropogenic noise exposure on animals. We investigated long- and short-term effects of traffic noise on zebra finches breeding in small communal aviaries, using a repeated measures design. Birds bred in both noise and no-noise conditions, and we measured baseline plasma glucocorticoid levels before, during and after breeding. In addition, we assayed immune function, measured reproductive success and offspring growth and compared rates of extra-pair paternity of breeding adults. Breeding birds had significantly lower baseline plasma corticosterone levels when exposed to traffic noise than when they were not exposed to noise playback. In addition, the nestlings reared during noise exposure were lighter than nestlings of the same parents when breeding in control conditions. Our results suggest that traffic noise poses a more severe hurdle to birds at more vulnerable stages of their life history, such as during reproductive events and ontogeny. While chronic exposure to traffic noise in our birds did not, by itself, prove to be a sufficient stressor to cause acute effects on health or reproductive success in exposed individuals, it did result in disruptions to normal glucocorticoid profiles and delayed offspring growth. However, animals living in urban habitats are exposed to a multitude of anthropogenic disturbances, and it is likely that even species that appear to be thriving in noisy environments may suffer cumulative effects of these multiple disturbances that may together impact their fitness in urban environments.

Traffic noise correlates with calling time but not spatial distribution in the threatened poison frog Andinobates bombetes

Behaviour ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 150 (6) ◽  
pp. 569-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Vargas-Salinas ◽  
Adolfo Amézquita
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Noise Level ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Heavy Traffic ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
Road Traffic Noise ◽  
Agricultural Field ◽  
Poison Frog ◽  
Forest Remnant

Acoustically communicating species have evolved adaptations that allow them to transmit information and overcome signal masking where their habitat is disturbed by anthropogenic noise. To investigate whether calling behaviour or spatial distribution is related to road traffic noise we studied the poison frog Andinobates bombetes in a mid-elevation forest remnant that has been exposed to heavy traffic noise throughout more than four decades. To test whether frogs avoid call during noise episodes generated by passing trucks, we compared background noise levels between calling and non-calling times. To test whether traffic noise is correlated with frogs spatial distribution, we measured frog abundance, ambient noise, and environmental covariates throughout a set of 24 sampling plots between 15 and 300 m from two forest edges, one bordered by the road and another one by an agricultural field. Frogs called more often when traffic noise level was lower. Frogs abundance was only marginally correlated with distance to noisy edges but was predictable from the abundance of bromeliad tanks, an alleged limiting resource for their reproduction. Apparently, to avoid calling during episodes with higher noise level allowed frogs to reduce the detrimental masking effects of anthropogenic noise; if so, it would explain why frog distribution is poorly correlated with distance to the noisy road.

Noise Footprint: A Proposal Within the Framework of FP7 AQUO Project to Define a Goal Based Approach Towards the Reduction of Underwater Radiated Noise From Shipping

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Baudin ◽  
Thomas Folegot ◽  
Michel Andre ◽  
Christian Audoly ◽  
Enrico Rizzuto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Work Group ◽  
Noise Pollution ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Marine Biota ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Maritime Traffic ◽  
Project Structure ◽  
Applied Knowledge ◽  
Future Work

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive has officially stated as soon as 2008 the anthropogenic noise due to shipping were to be mitigated. The policy makers, the yards and the ship owners still strongly rely on the expert studies and guidelines to find the appropriate methodology to assess and then mitigate the acoustic pollution impact shipping on the marine biota. To address this issue, the project AQUO “Achieve QUieter Oceans by shipping noise footprint reduction” (www.aquo.eu) started in October 2012 for 3 years. The AQUO project was built in the scope of FP7 European Research Framework. It involves 13 partners from 8 European countries, mixes academic experts, industry representatives from yard, classification society and other acoustic and bio-acoustic specialized bodies. Addressing the anthropogenic noise pollution into the marine biota is an increasing concern which is logically paired with the increasing commercial maritime traffic. The IMO itself has recently issued a first draft guideline, to be followed up during the next MEPC, addressing this matter. In parallel to the different achievements that are effective or in progress by standardization bodies or other delegated or assigned work group, the AQUO project aims to finally issue guidelines to be taken as methodological tools. The multi-disciplinary team of this project aims to comply with expectations from the different stakeholders. First, an overview of the project is given. The objectives and the related project structure are detailed so as to better understand which axes are chosen and studied. Secondly, it is here proposed to share the recent outcomes of AQUO project. The current status of applied knowledge, related legal decisions as well as standards empowerment are essential to identify the remaining needs and consequent expected efforts. Drawing first the background rationales the noise footprint concept is then detailed. The process followed towards the main objective of mitigating the anthropogenic noise from shipping will be partly revealed and completed by the expected future work to be achieved by 2015.

scholarly journals Using Privacy Respecting Sound Analysis to Improve Bluetooth Based Proximity Detection for COVID-19 Exposure Tracing and Social Distancing

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5604
Author(s):  
Gernot Bahle ◽  
Vitor Fortes Rey ◽  
Sizhen Bian ◽  
Hymalai Bello ◽  
Paul Lukowicz
Keyword(s):  
Sound Intensity ◽  
Signal Strength ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Critical Distance ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Received Signal Strength Indicator ◽  
Ambient Sound ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Future Work

We propose to use ambient sound as a privacy-aware source of information for COVID-19-related social distance monitoring and contact tracing. The aim is to complement currently dominant Bluetooth Low Energy Received Signal Strength Indicator (BLE RSSI) approaches. These often struggle with the complexity of Radio Frequency (RF) signal attenuation, which is strongly influenced by specific surrounding characteristics. This in turn renders the relationship between signal strength and the distance between transmitter and receiver highly non-deterministic. We analyze spatio-temporal variations in what we call “ambient sound fingerprints”. We leverage the fact that ambient sound received by a mobile device is a superposition of sounds from sources at many different locations in the environment. Such a superposition is determined by the relative position of those sources with respect to the receiver. We present a method for using the above general idea to classify proximity between pairs of users based on Kullback–Leibler distance between sound intensity histograms. The method is based on intensity analysis only, and does not require the collection of any privacy sensitive signals. Further, we show how this information can be fused with BLE RSSI features using adaptive weighted voting. We also take into account that sound is not available in all windows. Our approach is evaluated in elaborate experiments in real-world settings. The results show that both Bluetooth and sound can be used to differentiate users within and out of critical distance (1.5 m) with high accuracies of 77% and 80% respectively. Their fusion, however, improves this to 86%, making evident the merit of augmenting BLE RSSI with sound. We conclude by discussing strengths and limitations of our approach and highlighting directions for future work.

Merging Structural and Process-related Approaches to the Study of Agreeableness: A Preregistered Replication and Extension Attempt

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Vize ◽  
Donald Lynam
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Models ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Antisocial Behaviors ◽  
Substantial Evidence ◽  
Personality Research ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Insight Into

Agreeableness is one of the major domains included within prominent hierarchical models of personality like the Five-factor Model (FFM). (Low) agreeableness is the strongest correlate of a variety of antisocial behaviors relative to the other FFM domains. Though there is substantial evidence that (low) agreeableness is arguably the most important personality correlate of various antisocial behaviors, this evidence is descriptive and provides little information on the direction or processes underlying the relation. Process-related research has started to provide more insight into how agreeableness-related traits give rise to various antisocial and prosocial behaviors. The proposed study looked to first replicate previous research on some of the potential cognitive/emotional processes related to agreeableness, and then conduct exploratory analyses to identify which, if any, of the empirically identified facets of agreeableness bear specific relations to the processes under study. Overall, we were unable to replicate the primary effects of interest in regard to processes of agreeableness and found little support for our preregistered confirmatory and exploratory hypotheses despite having high power to detect these effects. Nonetheless, process-models of personality remain at the vanguard of personality research and we discuss how the current results can inform future work in this area.

scholarly journals Hunting at the highway: traffic noise reduces foraging efficiency in acoustic predators

2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1712) ◽  
pp. 1646-1652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn M. Siemers ◽  
Andrea Schaub
Keyword(s):  
Animal Communication ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Search Time ◽  
Ecosystem Processes ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Highway Traffic ◽  
Noise Impact ◽  
Foraging Performance

Noise pollution from human traffic networks and industrial activity impacts vast areas of our planet. While anthropogenic noise effects on animal communication are well documented, we have very limited understanding of noise impact on more complex ecosystem processes, such as predator–prey interactions, albeit urgently needed to devise mitigation measures. Here, we show that traffic noise decreases the foraging efficiency of an acoustic predator, the greater mouse-eared bat ( Myotis myotis ). These bats feed on large, ground-running arthropods that they find by listening to their faint rustling sounds. We measured the bats' foraging performance on a continuous scale of acoustically simulated highway distances in a behavioural experiment, designed to rule out confounding factors such as general noise avoidance. Successful foraging bouts decreased and search time drastically increased with proximity to the highway. At 7.5 m to the road, search time was increased by a factor of five. From this increase, we predict a 25-fold decrease in surveyed ground area and thus in foraging efficiency for a wild bat. As most of the bats' prey are predators themselves, the noise impact on the bats' foraging performance will have complex effects on the food web and ultimately on the ecosystem stability. Similar scenarios apply to other ecologically important and highly protected acoustic predators, e.g. owls. Our study provides the empirical basis for quantitative predictions of anthropogenic noise impacts on ecosystem processes. It highlights that an understanding of the effects of noise emissions and other forms of ‘sensory pollution’ are crucially important for the assessment of environmental impact of human activities.

scholarly journals Mussel Byssal Attachment Weakened by Anthropogenic Noise

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinguo Zhao ◽  
Shuge Sun ◽  
Wei Shi ◽  
Xuemei Sun ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Marine Invertebrates ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Solid Surfaces ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
Mussel Bed ◽  
Attachment Strength ◽  
Marine Mussels ◽  
Mechanical Performances ◽  
Failure Location ◽  
Future Work

The increasing underwater noise generated by anthropogenic activities has been widely recognized as a significant and pervasive pollution in the marine environment. Marine mussels are a family of sessile bivalves that attach to solid surfaces via the byssal threads. They are widely distributed along worldwide coastal areas and are of great ecological and socio-economic importance. Studies found that anthropogenic noise negatively affected many biological processes and/or functions of marine organisms. However, to date, the potential impacts of anthropogenic noise on mussel byssal attachment remain unknown. Here, the thick shell mussels Mytilus coruscus were exposed to an ambient underwater condition (∼50 dB re 1 μPa) or the playbacks of pile-driving noise (∼70 or ∼100 dB re 1 μPa) for 10 days. Results showed that the noise significantly reduced the secretion of byssal threads (e.g., diameter and volume) and weakened their mechanical performances (e.g., strength, extensibility, breaking stress, toughness and failure location), leading to a 16.95–44.50% decrease in mussel byssal attachment strength. The noise also significantly down-regulated the genes expressions of seven structural proteins (e.g., mfp-1, mfp-2, mfp-3, mfp-6, preCOL-P, preCOL-NG, and preCOL-D) of byssal threads, probably mediating the weakened byssal attachment. Given the essential functions of strong byssal attachment, the findings demonstrate that the increasing underwater anthropogenic noise are posing a great threat to mussel population, mussel-bed community and mussel aquaculture industry. We thus suggest that future work is required to deepen our understanding of the impacts of anthropogenic noise on marine invertebrates, especially these with limited locomotion ability, like bivalves.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document