London: Birds may undergo a change in physiology and reproductive health when living in environments with constant vehicular traffic noise, compared to when they are breeding in a quiet habitat, according to a study which throws light on how disturbances in urban landscapes affects birds.
The study, published in the journal Conservation Biology, noted that the chicks of noise-exposed birds were smaller than the young ones from quiet nests. The researchers, including those from The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science in Germany (MPG), studied the effect of traffic noise on stress hormone levels, health, and reproductive success in breeding zebra finches — birds native to the arid areas of Central
Australia. They observed a total of 88 birds split into two groups bred in both noise and no-noise conditions. The noise groups, the researchers said, were exposed to traffic noise recorded at several busy intersections in and around the city of Munich in Germany during the whole breeding period.
The study noted that the traffic noise used by the researchers varied throughout the day, with the sounds of heavier traffic during the day, and lighter traffic during the night. The findings revealed that the birds in constant traffic noise had lower levels of the stress hormone corticosterone in their blood compared to when they were breeding in a quiet environment. The researchers said that this was surprising since stress often resulted in higher levels of the hormone.
—PTI
