Effects of ambient noise on zebra finch vigilance and foraging efficiency

Ambient noise can affect the availability of acoustic information to animals, altering both foraging and vigilance behaviour. Using captive zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata, we examined the effect of ambient broadband noise on foraging decisions. Birds were given a choice between foraging in a quie...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2018-12, Vol.13 (12), p.e0209471-e0209471
Main Authors: Evans, Julian C, Dall, Sasha R X, Kight, Caitlin R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic noise
Animal behavior
Animals
Anthropogenic factors
Anti-predator behavior
Auditory Perception - physiology
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Bioacoustics
Biology and Life Sciences
Birds
Broadband
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Female
Finches
Finches - physiology
Foraging behavior
Human influences
Information sources
Male
Masking
Noise
Physical Sciences
Predation
Predatory Behavior - physiology
Quiet areas
Research and Analysis Methods
Social Sciences
Taeniopygia guttata
Vigilance
Vocalization, Animal - physiology
Wakefulness
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Ambient noise can affect the availability of acoustic information to animals, altering both foraging and vigilance behaviour. Using captive zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata, we examined the effect of ambient broadband noise on foraging decisions. Birds were given a choice between foraging in a quiet area where conspecific calls could be heard or a noisy area where these calls would be masked. Birds foraging in noisy areas spent a significantly more time vigilant than those in quiet areas, resulting in less efficient foraging. Despite this there was no significant difference in the amount of time spent in the two noise regimes. However there did appear a preference for initially choosing quiet patches during individuals' second trial. These results emphasise how masking noise can influence the foraging and anti-predation behaviour of animals, which is particularly relevant as anthropogenic noise becomes increasingly prevalent in the natural world.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0209471