The impact of anthropogenic noise on individual identification via female song in Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus)

Carolina Montenegro,William D Service,Christopher B Sturdy,Erin N Scully,Thomas J Benowicz,Prateek K Sahu,Shannon K Mischler,Katelyn V R Fox

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-96504-3

Carolina Montenegro, William D Service + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96504-3

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Abstract

When anthropogenic noise occurs simultaneously with an acoustic signal or cue, it can be difficult for an animal to interpret the information encoded within vocalizations. However, limited research has focused on how anthropogenic noise affects the identification of acoustic communication signals. In songbirds, research has also shown that black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) will shift the pitch and change the frequency at which they sing in the presence of anthropogenic, and experimental noise. Black-capped chickadees produce several vocalizations; their fee-bee song is used for mate attraction and territorial defence, and contains information about dominance hierarchy and native geographic location. Previously, we demonstrated that black-capped chickadees can discriminate between individual female chickadees via their fee-bee songs. Here we used an operant discrimination go/no-go paradigm to discern whether the ability to discriminate between individual female chickadees by their song would be impacted by differing levels of anthropogenic noise. Following discrimination training, two levels of anthropogenic noise (low: 40 dB SPL; high: 75 dB SPL) were played with stimuli to determine how anthropogenic noise would impact discrimination. Results showed that even with low-level noise (40 dB SPL) performance decreased and high-level (75 dB SPL) noise was increasingly detrimental to discrimination. We learned that perception of fee-bee songs does change in the presence of anthropogenic noise such that birds take significantly longer to learn to discriminate between females, but birds were able to generalize responding after learning the discrimination. These results add to the growing literature underscoring the impact of human-made noise on avian wildlife, specifically the impact on perception of auditory signals.

Highlights

When anthropogenic noise occurs simultaneously with an acoustic signal or cue, it can be difficult for an animal to interpret the information encoded within vocalizations
Anthropogenic noise consists of a wide range of sounds including: road vehicles, airplanes, industrial machinery, and air movement m achinery[3,4]
Anthropogenic noise levels have been shown to cause disturbances in human and non-human animals depending on the source and its p roximity[5]

Summary

Introduction

When anthropogenic noise occurs simultaneously with an acoustic signal or cue, it can be difficult for an animal to interpret the information encoded within vocalizations. We learned that perception of fee-bee songs does change in the presence of anthropogenic noise such that birds take significantly longer to learn to discriminate between females, but birds were able to generalize responding after learning the discrimination. These results add to the growing literature underscoring the impact of human-made noise on avian wildlife, the impact on perception of auditory signals. Results showed a similar increase in response latency and decrease in orientation by females towards male calls when in the presence of a simulated breeding chorus or when in the presence of simulated road traffic noise, suggesting that anthropogenic noise masks a female’s perception of male calls in a similar way to a breeding chorus

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