Abstract
Anthropogenic noise is a pervasive global pollutant that has been detected in every major habitat on the planet. Detrimental impacts of noise pollution on physiology, immunology and behaviour have been shown in terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates. Equivalent research on aquatic organisms has until recently been stunted by the misnomer of a silent underwater world. In fish, however, noise pollution can lead to stress, hearing loss, behavioural changes and impacted immunity. But, the functional effects of this impacted immunity on disease resistance due to noise exposure have remained neglected. Parasites that cause transmissible disease are key drivers of ecosystem biodiversity and a significant factor limiting the sustainable expansion of the animal trade. Therefore, understanding how a pervasive stressor is impacting host–parasite interactions will have far-reaching implications for global animal health. Here, we investigated the impact of acute and chronic noise on vertebrate susceptibility to parasitic infections, using a model host–parasite system (guppy–Gyrodactylus turnbulli). Hosts experiencing acute noise suffered significantly increased parasite burden compared with those in no noise treatments. By contrast, fish experiencing chronic noise had the lowest parasite burden. However, these hosts died significantly earlier compared with those exposed to acute and no noise treatments. By revealing the detrimental impacts of acute and chronic noise on host–parasite interactions, we add to the growing body of evidence demonstrating a link between noise pollution and reduced animal health.
Highlights
With species loss occurring 1000 times above the background rate of extinction, there is an urgent need to understand how anthropogenic activity influences ecosystem biodiversity and animal welfare [1]
Guppies exposed to acute noise and subsequently infected had significantly greater parasite burdens over time as measured through area under the curve (AUC) compared with no noise controls (GLM: Z = 0.08, s.e. = −4.14, p < 0.001; figure 4a)
Fish exposed to acute noise had significantly higher peak parasite burdens compared with controls (GLM: Z = −6.44, s.e. = 0.09, p < 0.001; figure 4b)
Summary
With species loss occurring 1000 times above the background rate of extinction, there is an urgent need to understand how anthropogenic activity influences ecosystem biodiversity and animal welfare [1]. It has marked impacts on human health, from reduced cardiovascular function [2,3,4,5] to elevated cortisol levels and disrupted sleep patterns [6,7]. Stress responses to sound pollution have been shown in nonhuman vertebrates (reviewed in [6]). Bird communities, such as the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), have elevated faecal corticosteroid metabolites and show a decline in male lek attendance when exposed to chronic and intermittent noise [8,9]. Even invertebrates are not exempt from the detrimental impacts of noise pollution [12]
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