Testing the AC/DC hypothesis: Rock and roll is noise pollution and weakens a trophic cascade

Abstract

Anthropogenic sound is increasingly considered a major environmental issue, but its effects are relatively unstudied. Organisms may be directly affected by anthropogenic sound in many ways, including interference with their ability to detect mates, predators, or food, and disturbances that directly affect one organism may in turn have indirect effects on others. Thus, to fully appreciate the net effect of anthropogenic sound, it may be important to consider both direct and indirect effects. We report here on a series of experiments to test the hypothesis that anthropogenic sound can generate cascading indirect effects within a community. We used a study system of lady beetles, soybean aphids, and soybean plants, which are a useful model for studying the direct and indirect effects of global change on food webs. For sound treatments, we used several types of music, as well as a mix of urban sounds (e.g., sirens, vehicles, and construction equipment), each at volumes comparable to a busy city street or farm tractor. In 18‐hr feeding trials, rock music and urban sounds caused lady beetles to consume fewer aphids, but other types of music had no effect even at the same volume. We then tested the effect of rock music on the strength of trophic cascades in a 2‐week experiment in plant growth chambers. When exposed to music by AC/DC, who articulated the null hypothesis that “rock and roll ain't noise pollution” in a song of the same name, lady beetles were less effective predators, resulting in higher aphid density and reduced final plant biomass relative to control (no music) treatments. While it is unclear what characteristics of sound generate these effects, our results reject the AC/DC hypothesis and demonstrate that altered interspecific interactions can transmit the indirect effects of anthropogenic noise through a community.

Noise‐induced reduction in the attack rate of a planktivorous freshwater fish revealed by functional response analysis

“…Recently, Barton et al. () have experimentally demonstrated the cascading effect of noise pollution along a beetle–aphid–plant tri‐trophic food chain but, to our knowledge, this is the only study to formally address this issue.…”

“…larvae are natural predators of water fleas (Pastorok, 1981) and the reduced vulnerability to fish predation under elevated noise level might have a negative indirect effect on water fleas. Recently, Barton et al (2018) have experimentally demonstrated the cascading effect of noise pollution along a beetle-aphid-plant tri-trophic food chain but, to our knowledge, this is the only study to formally address this issue.…”

Environmental stress gradients regulate the relative importance of predator density‐ and trait‐mediated indirect effects in oyster reef communities

“…Basal resource survivorship will be determined by how sensory stress affects intermediate prey ability to locate basal resources in these situations. For example, anthropogenic noises reduce lady beetle predation rates on aphids by potentially disrupting vibration detection of prey but does not affect aphid reduction of plant biomass, and consequently, aphids are released from top‐down lady beetle effects in the presence of noise pollution (Barton et al., 2018). Thus, estimates of the sensory performance of both predators and prey across the same gradient provide a framework to understand how sensory stress may structure communities by changing cascading predator effects.…”

“…In these scenarios it is predicted that consumptive effects will decrease in strength as sensory stress increases and predation-risk effects will remain important until the point at which prey detection of predators begins to decline (Weissburg et al, 2014). from top-down lady beetle effects in the presence of noise pollution (Barton et al, 2018). Thus, estimates of the sensory performance of both predators and prey across the same gradient provide a framework to understand how sensory stress may structure communities by changing cascading predator effects.…”

Identifying reliable fitness proxies for growing animals responding to anthropogenic changes

“…It will also be important to predict the behavioural changes of more than just one species in the interaction. For instance, predators may be less effective under noise (Barton et al, 2018), which may dampen the increase in prey vulnerability. Richer game theoretic models are necessary to predict these outcomes (McNamara, 2013).…”