Dataset Information

Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) alter alarm call duration and peak frequency in response to traffic noise.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic noise is an often-overlooked byproduct of urbanization and affects the soundscape in which birds communicate. Previous studies assessing the impact of traffic noise have focused on bird song, with many studies demonstrating the ability of birds to raise song frequency in the presence of low-frequency traffic noise to avoid masking. Less is known about the impact of traffic noise on avian alarm calls, which is surprising given the degree to which predator information within alarm calls may impact fitness. The objective of this study was to assess the impacts of traffic noise on the Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), a small non-migratory songbird with a well-studied and information-rich alarm call. We studied birds at eight locations in Stark County, Ohio, from 15 January to 7 March 2016, and used a taxidermic mount of an Eastern Screech-Owl to elicit alarm calls. In half of the trials, a pre-recorded traffic noise track was also broadcasted at 50 decibels. In noise trials, chickadee calls contained more introductory notes (P < 0.001), more total notes (P < 0.001), were of longer duration (P < 0.001), and had lower introductory and D-note peak frequencies (P = 0.032 and P = 0.041, respectively). No differences were noted in the number of D-notes per call between noise and control trials. Modifying alarm call duration and frequency, without changing the number of D-notes, may be a strategy that chickadees use to convey predator information and to coordinate a threat-appropriate mobbing response when it is not possible to change call type. Our results add to the small, but growing, literature documenting the effects of anthropogenic noise on avian alarm calls, demonstrate the flexibility and complexity of chickadee calls given in response to predators, and may partially explain why chickadees adapt well to urban areas.

SUBMITTER: Courter JR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7595340 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) alter alarm call duration and peak frequency in response to traffic noise.

Courter Jason R JR Perruci Rebecca J RJ McGinnis Kelsey J KJ Rainieri Jacqueline K JK

PloS one 20201029 10

Anthropogenic noise is an often-overlooked byproduct of urbanization and affects the soundscape in which birds communicate. Previous studies assessing the impact of traffic noise have focused on bird song, with many studies demonstrating the ability of birds to raise song frequency in the presence of low-frequency traffic noise to avoid masking. Less is known about the impact of traffic noise on avian alarm calls, which is surprising given the degree to which predator information within alarm ca ...[more]

PMID: 33119633

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Project description:Tests for the presence of pathogen DNA or antibodies are routinely used to survey for current or past infections. In diseases that emerge following a host jump estimates of infection rate might be under- or overestimated. We here examine whether observed rates of infection are biased for a non-focal host species in a model system. The bacterium Mycoplasma gallisepticum is a widespread pathogen in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus), a fringillid finch, but an unknown proportion of individuals of other songbird species are also infected. Our goal is to determine the extent to which detection of M. gallisepticum DNA or antibodies against the bacteria in a non-fringillid bird species is over- or underestimated using black-capped chickadees Poecile atricapillus, a species in which antibodies against M. gallisepticum are frequently detected in free-living individuals. After keeping black-capped chickadees in captivity for 12 weeks, during which period the birds remained negative for M. gallisepticum, four were inoculated with M. gallisepticum and four were sham inoculated in both eyes to serve as negative controls. Simultaneously we inoculated six house finches with the same isolate of M. gallisepticum as a positive control. All inoculated birds of both species developed infections detectable by qPCR in the conjunctiva. For the 6 weeks following inoculation we detected antibodies in all M. gallisepticum-inoculated house finches but in only three of the four M. gallisepticum-inoculated black-capped chickadees. All house finches developed severe eye lesions but none of the black-capped chickadees did. Modeling the Rapid Plate Agglutination test results of black-capped chickadees shows that the rate of false-positive tests would be not more than 3.2%, while the estimated rate of false negatives is 55%. We conclude that the proportion of wild-caught individuals in which we detect M. gallisepticum-specific antibodies using Rapid Plate Agglutination is, if anything, substantially underestimated.

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Dataset Information

Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) alter alarm call duration and peak frequency in response to traffic noise.

Publications

Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) alter alarm call duration and peak frequency in response to traffic noise.

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