Low-frequency songs lose their potency in noisy urban conditions

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America - Tập 108 Số 35 - Trang 14549-14554 - 2011
Wouter Halfwerk1, Sander Bot2, Jasper Buikx1, Marco van der Velde2,3, Jan Komdeur2,3, Carel ten Cate1, Hans Slabbekoorn1
1Behavioral Biology, Institute of Biology (IBL), Leiden University, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands;
2Animal Ecology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, Groningen University, 9750 AA, Haren, The Netherlands; and
3Behavioral Ecology and Self-Organisation, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, Groningen University, 9750 AA, Haren, The Netherlands

Tóm tắt

Many animal species communicate with their mates through acoustic signals, but this communication seems to become a struggle in urbanized areas because of increasing anthropogenic noise levels. Several bird species have been reported to increase song frequency by which they reduce the masking impact of spectrally overlapping noise. However, it remains unclear whether such behavioral flexibility provides a sufficient solution to noisy urban conditions or whether there are hidden costs. Species may rely on low frequencies to attract and impress females, and the use of high frequencies may, therefore, come at the cost of reduced attractiveness. We studied the potential tradeoff between signal strength and signal detection in a successful urban bird species, the great tit ( Parus major). We show that the use of low-frequency songs by males is related to female fertility as well as sexual fidelity. We experimentally show that urban noise conditions impair male–female communication and that signal efficiency depends on song frequency in the presence of noise. Our data reveal a response advantage for high-frequency songs during sexual signaling in noisy conditions, whereas low-frequency songs are likely to be preferred. These data are critical for our understanding of the impact of anthropogenic noise on wild-ranging birds, because they provide evidence for low-frequency songs being linked to reproductive success and to be affected by noise-dependent signal efficiency.

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Tập 108 Số 35

14549-14554

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