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Are bird species that vocalize at higher frequencies preadapted to inhabit noisy urban areas?

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  • Yang Hu
  • Gonçalo C. Cardoso

Abstract

Urban environments have become an increasingly important part of the world's ecosystems, and the characteristics that enable animals to live there are not fully understood. A typical urban characteristic is the high level of ambient noise, which presents difficulties for animals that use vocal communication. Urban noise is most intense at lower frequencies, and, therefore, species vocalizing at higher frequencies may be less affected and thus better able to inhabit urban environments. We tested this hypothesis with within-genera comparisons of the vocalization frequency of 529 bird species from 103 genera. We found that species occurring in urban environments generally vocalize at higher dominant frequency than strictly nonurban congeneric species, without differing in body size or in the vegetation density of their natural habitats. In most passerine genera with low-frequency songs, which are more subject to masking by noise, minimum song frequency was also higher for urban species. These results suggest that species using high frequencies are preadapted to inhabit urban environments and that reducing noise pollution in urban areas may contribute to restore more diverse avian communities. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang Hu & Gonçalo C. Cardoso, 2009. "Are bird species that vocalize at higher frequencies preadapted to inhabit noisy urban areas?," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 20(6), pages 1268-1273.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:20:y:2009:i:6:p:1268-1273
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/arp131
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    Cited by:

    1. Juan David Carvajal-Castro & Ana María Ospina-L & Yemay Toro-López & Anny Pulido-G & Laura Ximena Cabrera-Casas & Sebastián Guerrero-Peláez & Víctor Hugo García-Merchán & Fernando Vargas-Salinas, 2019. "Birds vs bricks: Patterns of species diversity in response to urbanization in a Neotropical Andean city," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-20, June.
    2. J.L. Dowling & D.A. Luther & P.P. Marra, 2012. "Comparative effects of urban development and anthropogenic noise on bird songs," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(1), pages 201-209.
    3. Gonçalo C. Cardoso, 2012. "Paradoxical calls: the opposite signaling role of sound frequency across bird species," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(2), pages 237-241.

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