Abstract
Urbanization is associated with dramatic increases in noise and light pollution, which affect animal behaviour, physiology and fitness. However, few studies have examined these stressors simultaneously. Moreover, effects of urbanization during early-life may be detrimental but are largely unknown. In developing great tits (Parus major), a frequently-used model species, we determined important indicators of immunity and physiological condition: plasma haptoglobin (Hp) and nitric oxide (NOx) concentration. We also determined fledging mass, an indicator for current health and survival. Associations of ambient noise and light exposure with these indicators were studied. Anthropogenic noise, light and their interaction were unrelated to fledging mass. Nestlings exposed to more noise showed higher plasma levels of Hp but not of NOx. Light was unrelated to Hp and NOx and did not interact with the effect of noise on nestlings’ physiology. Increasing levels of Hp are potentially energy demanding and trade-offs could occur with life-history traits, such as survival. Effects of light pollution on nestlings of a cavity-nesting species appear to be limited. Nonetheless, our results suggest that the urban environment, through noise exposure, may entail important physiological costs for developing organisms.
Highlights
As a consequence of urbanization, anthropogenic noise and light have dramatically increased over the recent decades and they pose a worldwide environmental challenge[1,2,3,4,5,6]
While in a previous experimental study we have shown that artificial light at night inside the nest box affects body mass gain, Hp and nitric oxide (NOx), little is known about how ambient levels of light pollution affect developing great tits
In this study we show that ambient anthropogenic noise was associated with the physiology of free-living great tit nestlings
Summary
As a consequence of urbanization, anthropogenic noise and light have dramatically increased over the recent decades and they pose a worldwide environmental challenge[1,2,3,4,5,6]. While studies have shown that noise and light can have negative behavioural and physiological effects on adult birds, results on nestlings are almost completely missing (but see e.g. refs 12–15) These are important, especially as early-life experiences will have long-term effects on these individuals. We studied simultaneously the variation in noise and light exposure of free-living great tit (Parus major) nestlings in an urban population and related exposure levels to important indicators of short term survival, physiological condition and health: fledging mass, haptoglobin (Hp) and nitric oxide (NOx). While in a previous experimental study we have shown that artificial light at night inside the nest box affects body mass gain, Hp and NOx, little is known about how ambient levels of light pollution affect developing great tits It is unknown whether noise pollution has an effect and whether the combined effect of noise and light is additive or synergistic. Distance to the nearest road or to the highway was considered as an alternative explanation
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