Potential Uses of Anthropogenic Noise as a Source of Information in Animal Sensory and Communication Systems

Stansbury, Amanda L.; Deecke, Volker B.; Götz, Thomas; Janik, Vincent M.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-2981-8_137

“…Most research on the impact of noise has focused on the detrimental effects and how animals deal with interference from noise. Nevertheless, noise can also be beneficial to some species, depending on the context and how receivers react to it (Stansbury et al 2016 ). For instance, greater mouse-eared bats ( Myotis myotis ) and western scrub jays ( Aphelocoma californica ) have been shown to experience decreased predation pressure when predators avoid increased local noise produced by anthropogenic activity (Schaub et al 2008 ; Francis et al 2009 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sometimes noise is beneficial: stream noise informs vocal communication in the little torrent frog Amolops torrentis

Zhao

¹

,

Zhu

²

,

Wang

³

et al. 2017

J Ethol

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Many kinds of environmental noise can interfere with acoustic communication and efficient decision making in terrestrial species. Here we identified an exception to this generalization in a streamside species, the little torrent frog (Amolops torrentis) which communicates in a stream noise environment. To determine whether stream noise can act as a cue regarding the microhabitat characteristics of senders, we performed phonotaxis experiments using stimulus pairs constructed with synthetic male calls (high or low dominant frequency) and stream noise with varied signal-to-noise ratios. We found that females prefer calls with high amplitude stream noise added compared to those with low amplitude stream noise added for both high and low dominant frequency stimulus pairs; however, stream noise itself was not attractive in the absence of calls. These results show that stream noise can function as a cue that may be used by females for enhancing the attractiveness of calls. Stream noise associates closely with rocks, topographies and vegetation and may thus provide useful microhabitat information for signal receivers, thereby acting on sexual selection. These data therefore contribute to our understanding of how the perception of mate attractiveness in heterogeneous ecological environments can evolve.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10164-017-0515-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Most research on the impact of noise has focused on the detrimental effects and how animals deal with interference from noise. Nevertheless, noise can also be beneficial to some species depending on the context and how others react to it (Stansbury et al 2016). For instance, greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis) and western scrub jays (Aphelocoma californica) have been shown to experience decreased predation pressure when predators avoid increased local noise produced by anthropogenic activity (Schaub et al 2008;Francis et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Supplemental Information 2: The Number of Responsed and No Responsed Females

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Many animal species use acoustic signals for social communication including attracting mates, defending resources and assessing risks. Nevertheless, a variety of ambient noise sources often interfere with sound communication and efficient decision making. In the present study we identified an exception to this generalization in a streamside species, the little torrent frog (Amolops torrentis) which communicates in an environment in which stream noise is always present. To show that stream noise can act as a biological signal which reflects the character of the microhabitat of the sender, we performed female phonotaxis experiments using synthetic male advertisement calls. Calls with high dominant frequency exceeding the ambient stream noise band and calls with lower dominant frequency centered at the frequency range of best hearing were used. The signal-noise ratio was varied by adding noise to each kind of call. We found that females prefer calls with high amplitude stream noise added to those with low amplitude stream noise added for both the high and low dominant frequency stimulus pairs; however, the sound of running water had no attractiveness in the absence of calls. These results show that stream noise can function as an information source by enhancing the attractiveness of calls in the torrent frog. Stream noise associates closely with rocks, topographies and vegetation; thus the sound of running water may provide useful information to signal receivers about variations in microhabitats and thereby act on sexual selection under some circumstances. These data therefore contribute to our understanding of how the perception of mate attractiveness in heterogeneous ecological environments can evolve.

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“…Nevertheless, noise can also be beneficial to some 51 species depending on the context and how others react to it (Stansbury et al 2016 (Fig. 1).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Supplemental Information 1: Response Time

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Many animal species use acoustic signals for social communication including attracting mates, defending resources and assessing risks. Nevertheless, a variety of ambient noise sources often interfere with sound communication and efficient decision making. In the present study we identified an exception to this generalization in a streamside species, the little torrent frog (Amolops torrentis) which communicates in an environment in which stream noise is always present. To show that stream noise can act as a biological signal which reflects the character of the microhabitat of the sender, we performed female phonotaxis experiments using synthetic male advertisement calls. Calls with high dominant frequency exceeding the ambient stream noise band and calls with lower dominant frequency centered at the frequency range of best hearing were used. The signal-noise ratio was varied by adding noise to each kind of call. We found that females prefer calls with high amplitude stream noise added to those with low amplitude stream noise added for both the high and low dominant frequency stimulus pairs; however, the sound of running water had no attractiveness in the absence of calls. These results show that stream noise can function as an information source by enhancing the attractiveness of calls in the torrent frog. Stream noise associates closely with rocks, topographies and vegetation; thus the sound of running water may provide useful information to signal receivers about variations in microhabitats and thereby act on sexual selection under some circumstances. These data therefore contribute to our understanding of how the perception of mate attractiveness in heterogeneous ecological environments can evolve.PeerJ Preprints | https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.2408v1 | CC BY 4.0 Open Access | rec:

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Potential Uses of Anthropogenic Noise as a Source of Information in Animal Sensory and Communication Systems

Cited by 3 publications

References 36 publications

Sometimes noise is beneficial: stream noise informs vocal communication in the little torrent frog Amolops torrentis

Sometimes noise is beneficial: stream noise informs vocal communication in the little torrent frog Amolops torrentis

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