Artificial night lighting rather than traffic noise affects the daily timing of dawn and dusk singing in common European songbirds

Silva, Arnaud Da; Samplonius, Jelmer M.; Schlicht, Emmi; Vâlcu, Mihai; Kempenaers, Bart

doi:10.1093/beheco/aru103

Cited by 148 publications

(171 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…In contrast, the effect of artificial lights on the timing of behaviours during winter has received relatively little attention. Although birds exposed to light in the night show earlier onset of activity in the morning (Dominoni et al 2014;Da Silva et al 2014), some studies suggest that artificial light at night is not an important driver of the timing of foraging behaviour in winter period (Clewley et al 2015). However, other results indicate that species are able to extend their activity period by utilising artificial light during the winter (Byrkjedal et al 2012) and typically diurnal birds are capable of foraging at night under artificial illumination (Lebbin et al 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat type, food resources, noise and light pollution explain the species composition, abundance and stability of a winter bird assemblage in an urban environment

2016

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At present, urban areas cover almost 3% of the Earth's terrestrial area, and this proportion is constantly increasing. Although urbanization leads to a decline in biodiversity, at the same time it creates extensive habitats that are exploited by an assemblage of organisms, including birds. The species composition and density of birds nesting in towns and cities are determined by the types of buildings, the structure and maturity of urban greenery, and habitat diversity. In contrast, the habitat traits shaping the community of birds wintering in urban areas are not known. The aim of this work was to assess the influence of habitat structure, food resources and the urban effects (pollution, noise, artificial light) on an assemblage of birds overwintering in an urban area. It was carried out in 2014 and 2015 in the city of Kraków (southern Poland), on 56 randomly chosen sample plots, in which the composition, density and interseasonal similarity of bird assemblage were assessed with line transect method. A total of 64 bird species (mean = 17.7 ± 4.9 SD species/plot) was recorded. The mean density was 89.6 ind./km ±63.3 SD. The most numerous species were Great Tit Parus major, Magpie Pica pica, Blackbird Turdus merula, Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus, Rook Corvus frugilegus, Fieldfare Turdus pilaris and House Sparrow Passer domesticus. Noise adversely affected species numbers and density, but artificial light acted positively on the density of birds and their interseasonal stability. The species richness and density of birds were also determined by the number of food sources available (e.g. bird-feeders). In addition, the greater the proportion of open areas, the fewer species were recorded. In contrast, the more urban greenery there was, the greater the density of the entire bird assemblage. Urban infrastructure (buildings, roads, refuse tips) had a positive effect on the interseasonal stabilization of the species composition of wintering birds. The results of this work indicate that the urban effect, i.e. noise and light pollution, apart from purely habitat factors, provide a good explanation for the species richness, density and stability of bird assemblage wintering in urban areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat type, food resources, noise and light pollution explain the species composition, abundance and stability of a winter bird assemblage in an urban environment

2016

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“…Several songbird species have been found to modify their time of singing in light polluted areas in different geographical regions. The effect is strongest for some naturally early singing species: European robin (Erithacus rubecola) (Fuller et al 2007; Kempenaers et al 2010; Da Silva et al 2014, American robin (Turdus migratorius) (Miller 2006a ), Common blackbird (Turdus merula) (Kempenaers et al 2010; Dominoni et al 2014; Da Silva et al 2014, and Great tit (Parus major) (Kempenaers et al 2010; Da Silva et al 2014. These species sometimes sing truly at night.…”

Section: Light Pollution and Daily Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The effects are more moderate in other species, such as the song thrush (Turdus philomelos) (Da Silva et al 2014 ) and the Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) (Kempenaers et al 2010; Da Silva et al 2014. While all of them have reported an earlier onset of dawn song, few have also shown a later offset of activity in the evening (Dominoni et al 2014; Da Silva et al 2014 and even singing behavior in the middle of the night (Fuller et al 2007 ). However, these studies were limited in the sense that they have reported only the time at which the first (or last) active event (singing or locomotor activity) was heard from a particular individual and/or species, but information of their activity patterns throughout the 24 h is largely lacking.…”

Section: Light Pollution and Daily Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only a few studies have tried to overcome this limitation in the field to at least separate the effects of noise and light, while controlling for ambient temperature (Kempenaers et al 2010; Da Silva et al 2014. These have shown that light pollution can clearly alter the onset and offset of daily singing in a variety of species, and that the annual development of dawn and dusk chorus is accelerated under artificial lights (Da Silva et al 2015 ).…”

Section: Light Pollution and Daily Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have highlighted variation in daily as well as in seasonal rhythms of different bird species (Miller 2006b; Kempenaers et al 2010; Nordt and Klenke 2013; Dominoni et al 2014, although other environmental stimuli proper of urban areas might have confounded these results. Recently, quasi experimental approaches in the field (Titulaer et al 2012; Da Silva et al 2014 and controlled experiments under laboratory conditions (Schoech et al 2013; Dominoni et al 2013b ) have tested specific hypotheses about the effects of light at night on the daily and seasonal cycles of birds, which have included investigations on the physiological mechanisms underpinning the temporal responses of birds to light at night. Because light is the most important synchronizer of the avian circadian clock (Berson et al 2002 ) and a countless number of physiological process are under circadian control (Foster and Kreitzmann 2004 ), changes in the light environment at night are likely to affect the expression of several biological functions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of light pollution on biological rhythms of birds: an integrated, mechanistic perspective

Dominoni

2015

J Ornithol

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Light pollution is considered a threat for biodiversity given the extent to which it can affect a vast number of behavioral and physiological processes in several species. This comes as no surprise as light is a fundamental, environmental cue through which organisms time their daily and seasonal activities, and alterations in the light environment have been found to affect profoundly the synchronization of the circadian clock, the endogenous mechanism that tracks and predicts variation in the external light/dark cycles. In this context, birds have been one of the most studied animal taxa, but our understanding of the effects of light pollution on the biological rhythms of avian species is mostly limited to behavioral responses. In order to understand which proximate mechanisms may be affected by artificial lights, we need an integrated perspective that focuses on light as a physiological signal, and especially on how photic information is perceived, decoded, and transmitted through the whole body. The aim of this review is to summarize the effects of light pollution on physiological and biochemical mechanisms that underlie changes in birds' behavior, highlighting the current gaps in our knowledge and proposing future research avenues.

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Airport noise predicts song timing of European birds

Dominoni

Greif

Nemeth

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Anthropogenic noise is of increasing concern to biologists and medical scientists. Its detrimental effects on human health have been well studied, with the high noise levels from air traffic being of particular concern. However, less is known about the effects of airport noise pollution on signal masking in wild animals. Here, we report a relationship between aircraft noise and two major features of the singing behavior of birds. We found that five of ten songbird species began singing significantly earlier in the morning in the vicinity of a major European airport than their conspecifics at a quieter control site. As birds at both sites started singing before the onset of air traffic in the morning, this suggests that the birds in the vicinity of the airport advanced their activity to gain more time for unimpaired singing before the massive plane noise set in. In addition, we found that during the day, chaffinches avoided singing during airplane takeoffs, but only when the noise exceeded a certain threshold, further suggesting that the massive noise caused by the airport can impair acoustic communication in birds. Overall, our study indicates that birds may be adjusting their mating signals and time budgets in response to aircraft noise.

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Artificial night lighting rather than traffic noise affects the daily timing of dawn and dusk singing in common European songbirds

Cited by 148 publications

References 43 publications

Habitat type, food resources, noise and light pollution explain the species composition, abundance and stability of a winter bird assemblage in an urban environment

Habitat type, food resources, noise and light pollution explain the species composition, abundance and stability of a winter bird assemblage in an urban environment

The effects of light pollution on biological rhythms of birds: an integrated, mechanistic perspective

Airport noise predicts song timing of European birds

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