Growing up with chronic traffic noise exposure leads to transient but not long-term noise tolerance in a songbird.

Noise pollution is on the rise worldwide. An unresolved issue regarding the mitigation of noise pollution is whether and at which timescales animals may adapt to noise pollution. Here, we tested whether continuous highway noise exposure perinatally and during juvenile development increased noise tolerance in a songbird, the zebra finch ().

Natural soundscapes of lowland river habitats and the potential threat of urban noise pollution to migratory fish.

Migratory fish populations have experienced great declines, and considerable effort have been put into reducing stressors, such as chemical pollution and physical barriers. However, the importance of natural sounds as an information source and potential problems caused by noise pollution remain largely unexplored. The spatial distribution of sound sources and variation in propagation characteristics could provide migratory fish with acoustic cues about habitat suitability, predator presence, food availability and conspecific presence.

A sound beginning of life starts before birth.

Long-term impact from prenatal noise exposure in birds should raise general concern.

An experimental sound exposure study at sea: No spatial deterrence of free-ranging pelagic fisha).

Acoustic deterrent devices are used to guide aquatic animals from danger or toward migration paths. At sea, moderate sounds can potentially be used to deter fish to prevent injury or death due to acoustic overexposure. In sound exposure studies, acoustic features can be compared to improve deterrence efficacy.

Separate and combined effects of boat noise and a live crab predator on mussel valve gape behavior.

Noisy human activities at sea are changing the acoustic environment, which has been shown to affect marine mammals and fishes. Invertebrates, such as bivalves, have so far received limited attention despite their important role in the marine ecosystem. Several studies have examined the impact of sound on anti-predator behavior using simulated predators, but studies using live predators are scarce.

Anthropogenic noise pollution and wildlife diseases.

There is a global rise in anthropogenic noise and a growing awareness of its negative effects on wildlife, but to date the consequences for wildlife diseases have received little attention. In this paper, we discuss how anthropogenic noise can affect the occurrence and severity of infectious wildlife diseases. We argue that there is potential for noise impacts at three main stages of pathogen transmission and disease development: (i) the probability of preinfection exposure, (ii) infection upon exposure, and (iii) severity of postinfection consequences.

A decade of underwater noise research in support of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Underwater noise from human activities is now widely recognised as a threat to marine life. Nevertheless, legislation which directly addresses this source of pollution is lacking. The first (and currently only) example globally is Descriptor 11 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), adopted by the European Union in 2008, which requires that levels of underwater noise pollution do not adversely affect marine ecosystems.

Male song stability shows cross-year repeatability but does not affect reproductive success in a wild passerine bird.

Predictable behaviour (or 'behavioural stability') might be favoured in certain ecological contexts, for example when representing a quality signal. Costs associated with producing stable phenotypes imply selection should favour plasticity in stability when beneficial. Repeatable among-individual differences in degree of stability are simultaneously expected if individuals differ in ability to pay these costs, or in how they resolve cost-benefit trade-offs.

An experimental test of chronic traffic noise exposure on parental behaviour and reproduction in zebra finches.

Chronic traffic noise is increasingly recognised as a potential hazard to wildlife. Several songbird species have been shown to breed poorly in traffic noise exposed habitats. However, identifying whether noise is causal in this requires experimental approaches.

Effects of pile driving sound on local movement of free-ranging Atlantic cod in the Belgian North Sea.

Offshore energy acquisition through the construction of wind farms is rapidly becoming one of the major sources of green energy all over the world. The construction of offshore wind farms contributes to the ocean soundscape as steel monopile foundations are commonly hammered into the seabed to anchor wind turbines. This pile driving activity causes repeated, impulsive, low-frequency sounds, reaching far into the environment, which may have an impact on the surrounding marine life.

North Sea soundscapes from a fish perspective: Directional patterns in particle motion and masking potential from anthropogenic noise.

The aquatic world of animals is an acoustic world as sound is the most prominent sensory capacity to extract information about the environment for many aquatic species. Fish can hear particle motion, and a swim bladder potentially adds the additional capacity to sense sound pressure. Combining these capacities allows them to sense direction, distance, spectral content, and detailed temporal patterns.

The importance of individual variation for the interpretation of behavioural studies: ethanol effects vary with basal activity level in zebrafish larvae.

Standardization and reduction of variation is key to behavioural screening of animal models in toxicological and pharmacological studies. However, individual variation in behavioural and physiological phenotypes remains in each laboratory population and can undermine the understanding of toxicological and pharmaceutical effects and their underlying mechanisms. Here, we used zebrafish (ABTL-strain) larvae to explore individual consistency in activity level and emergence time, across subsequent days of early development (6-8 dpf).

An echosounder view on the potential effects of impulsive noise pollution on pelagic fish around windfarms in the North Sea.

Anthropogenic noise in the oceans is disturbing marine life. Among other groups, pelagic fish are likely to be affected by sound from human activities, but so far have received relatively little attention. Offshore wind farms have become numerous and will become even more abundant in the next decades.

Effects of a seismic survey on movement of free-ranging Atlantic cod.

Geophysical exploration of the seabed is typically done through seismic surveys, using airgun arrays that produce intense, low-frequency-sound pulses that can be heard over hundreds of square kilometers, 24/7. Little is known about the effects of these sounds on free-ranging fish behavior. Effects reported range from subtle individual change in activity and swimming depth for captive fish to potential avoidance and changes in swimming velocity and diurnal activity patterns for free-swimming animals.

The soundscape of the Anthropocene ocean.

Oceans have become substantially noisier since the Industrial Revolution. Shipping, resource exploration, and infrastructure development have increased the anthrophony (sounds generated by human activities), whereas the biophony (sounds of biological origin) has been reduced by hunting, fishing, and habitat degradation. Climate change is affecting geophony (abiotic, natural sounds).

Effects of seismic airgun playbacks on swimming patterns and behavioural states of Atlantic cod in a net pen.

Anthropogenic sound can affect fish behaviour and physiology which may affect their well-being. However, it remains a major challenge to translate such effects to consequences for fitness at an individual and population level. For this, energy budget models have been developed, but suitable data to parametrize these models are lacking.

Population-level effects of acoustic disturbance in Atlantic cod: a size-structured analysis based on energy budgets.

Anthropogenic underwater noise may negatively affect marine animals. Yet, while fishes are highly sensitive to sounds, effects of acoustic disturbances on fishes have not been extensively studied at the population level. In this study, we use a size-structured model based on energy budgets to analyse potential population-level effects of anthropogenic noise on Atlantic cod ().

The role of the Glucocorticoid Receptor in the Regulation of Diel Rhythmicity.

Virtually all organisms have adapted to the earth's day-night cycles by the evolution of endogenous rhythms that regulate most biological processes. Recent research has highlighted the role of glucocorticoids and the Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in coordinating clock function across various levels of biological organisation. In the present study, we have explored the role of the GR in the rhythmicity of the biological clock, by comparing 5 day old wildtype zebrafish larvae (gr) with mutant larvae with a non-functional GR (gr).

Diving apart together: call propagation in diving long-finned pilot whales.

Group-living animals must communicate to stay in contact. In long-finned pilot whales, there is a trade-off between the benefits of foraging individually at depth and the formation of tight social groups at the surface. Using theoretical modelling and empirical data of tagged pairs within a group, we examined the potential of pilot whale social calls to reach dispersed group members during foraging periods.

Profound effects of glucocorticoid resistance on anxiety-related behavior in zebrafish adults but not in larvae.

Previously, adult zebrafish with a mutation in the gene encoding the glucocorticoid receptor (Gr) were demonstrated to display anxiety- and depression-like behavior that could be reversed by treatment with antidepressant drugs, suggesting that this model system could be applied to study novel therapeutic strategies against depression. Subsequent studies with zebrafish larvae from this gr line and a different gr mutant have not confirmed these effects. To investigate this discrepancy, we have analyzed the anxiety-like behavior in 5 dpf gr larvae using a dark/tapping stimulus test and a light/dark preference test.

Noise pollution.

Noise pollution has spread over the entire globe: from the initial rumble in the Stone age, the invention of gun powder, and a steady rise during the industrial revolution, to a global acceleration in the second half of the 20 century. Hans Slabbekoorn highlights what we know about the impact of this acoustic climate change, on humans and animals alike.

Aircraft sound exposure leads to song frequency decline and elevated aggression in wild chiffchaffs.

The ubiquitous anthropogenic low-frequency noise impedes communication by masking animal signals. To overcome this communication barrier, animals may increase the frequency, amplitude and delivery rate of their acoustic signals, making them more easily heard. However, a direct impact of intermittent, high-level aircraft noise on birds' behaviour living close to a runway has not been studied in detail.

Particle motion and sound pressure in fish tanks: A behavioural exploration of acoustic sensitivity in the zebrafish.

Underwater sound fields can be complex, both in open water and small tank environments. Here we measured 1) spatial variation in artificially elevated sound levels in a small fish tank for both particle motion and sound pressure. We confirmed that the ratio of pressure and particle motion deviated considerably from what would be expected in theoretical far field environments.

Source specific sound mapping: Spatial, temporal and spectral distribution of sound in the Dutch North Sea.

Effective measures for protecting and preserving the marine environment require an understanding of the potential impact of anthropogenic sound on marine life. A crucial component is a proper assessment of the anthropogenic soundscape: which sounds are present where, when and how strong? We provide an extensive case study modelling the spatial, temporal and spectral distribution of sound radiated by several anthropogenic sources (ships, seismic airguns, explosives) and a naturally occurring one (wind) in the Dutch North Sea. We present the results as a series of sound maps covering the whole of the Dutch North Sea, showing the spatial and temporal distribution of the energy from these sources.