Behavioral plasticity allows short-term adjustment to a novel environment.
Many species are currently experiencing anthropogenically driven environmental changes. Among these changes, increasing noise levels are specifically a problem for species relying on acoustic communication. Recent evidence suggests that some species adjust their acoustic signals to man-made noise. However, it is unknown whether these changes occur through short-term and reversible adjustments by behavioral plasticity or through long-term adaptations by evolutionary change. Using behavioral observations and playback experiments, we show that male reed buntings (Emberiza schoeniclus) adjusted their songs immediately, singing at a higher minimum frequency and at a lower rate when noise levels were high. Our data showed that these changes in singing behavior were short-term adjustments of signal characteristics resulting from behavioral plasticity, rather than a long-term adaptation. However, more males remained unpaired at a noisy location than at a quiet location throughout the breeding season. Thus, phenotypic plasticity enables individuals to respond to environmental changes, but whether these short-term adjustments are beneficial remains to be seen.
Gross
Karin
K
Institute of Zoology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Pasinelli
Gilberto
G
Kunc
Hansjoerg P
HP
D000064:Acclimatization; D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D046109:Passeriformes / Q000502:physiology*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D014828:Vocalization, Animal