Ambient noise increases missed detections in nestling birds

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Ambient noise can mask acoustic cues, making their detection and discrimination difficult for receivers. This can result in two types of error: missed detections, when receivers fail to respond to the appropriate cues, and false alarms, when they respond to inappropriate cues. Nestling birds are error-prone, sometimes failing to beg when parents arrive with food (committing missed detections) or begging in response to stimuli other than a parent's arrival (committing false alarms). Here, we ask whether the frequency of these errors by nestling tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) increases in the presence of noise. We found that nestlings exposed to noise had more missed detections than their unexposed counterparts. We also found that false alarms remained low overall and did not differ significantly between noise and quiet treatments. Our results suggest that nestlings living in noisy environments may be less responsive to their parents than nestlings in quieter environments. This journal is

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)530-532
Number of pages3
JournalBiology Letters
Volume8
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 23 2012

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Ambient noise increases missed detections in nestling birds'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this

Leonard, M. L., & Horn, A. G. (2012). Ambient noise increases missed detections in nestling birds. Biology Letters, 8(4), 530-532. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2012.0032