title: Increased noise levels have different impacts on the anti-predator behaviour of two sympatric fish species.
abstract: Animals must avoid predation to survive and reproduce, and there is increasing evidence that man-made (anthropogenic) factors can influence predator-prey relationships. Anthropogenic noise has been shown to have a variety of effects on many species, but work investigating the impact on anti-predator behaviour is rare. In this laboratory study, we examined how additional noise (playback of field recordings of a ship passing through a harbour), compared with control conditions (playback of recordings from the same harbours without ship noise), affected responses to a visual predatory stimulus. We compared the anti-predator behaviour of two sympatric fish species, the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and the European minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus), which share similar feeding and predator ecologies, but differ in their body armour. Effects of additional-noise playbacks differed between species: sticklebacks responded significantly more quickly to the visual predatory stimulus during additional-noise playbacks than during control conditions, while minnows exhibited no significant change in their response latency. Our results suggest that elevated noise levels have the potential to affect anti-predator behaviour of different species in different ways. Future field-based experiments are needed to confirm whether this effect and the interspecific difference exist in relation to real-world noise sources, and to determine survival and population consequences.
authors: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors: Irene K
authors: IK
authors: Voellmy
authors: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors: Julia
authors: J
authors: Purser
authors: Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
authors: Stephen D
authors: SD
authors: Simpson
authors: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors: Andrew N
authors: AN
authors: Radford
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D003530:Cyprinidae / Q000502:physiology*; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009622:Noise; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012767:Ships; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013637:Tape Recording