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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on February 29, 2008
Behavioral Ecology 2008 19(3):502-507; doi:10.1093/beheco/arm161
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Does ambient noise affect growth and begging call structure in nestling birds?

Marty L. Leonard and Andrew G. Horn

Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4J1

Address correspondence to M.L. Leonard. E-mail: mleonard{at}dal.ca.


  Abstract

Much of the research examining the effects of ambient noise on communication has focused on adult birds using acoustic signals in mate attraction and territory defense. Here, we examine the effects of noise exposure on young birds, which use acoustic signals to solicit food from parents. We found that nestling tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) exposed to playbacks of white noise, within natural amplitude levels, from days 3 to 15 posthatch had begging calls with higher minimum frequencies and narrower frequency ranges than control nestlings raised in nests without added noise. Differences in begging call structure also persisted in the absence of noise. Two days after the noise was removed, experimental nestlings produced calls that were narrower in frequency range and less complex than control nestlings. We found no difference in growth between experimental and control nestlings. Our results suggest that long-term noise exposure affects the structure of nestling begging calls. These effects persist in the absence of noise, suggesting that noise may affect how calls develop.

Key words: ambient noise, begging calls, call structure, nestling birds, parent–offspring communication.

Received 31 July 2007; revised 3 December 2007; accepted 16 December 2007.


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