title: Traffic noise reduces foraging efficiency in wild owls.
abstract: Anthropogenic noise has been increasing globally. Laboratory experiments suggest that noise disrupts foraging behavior across a range of species, but to reveal the full impacts of noise, we must examine the impacts of noise on foraging behavior among species in the wild. Owls are widespread nocturnal top predators and use prey rustling sounds for localizing prey when hunting. We conducted field experiments to examine the effect of traffic noise on owls' ability to detect prey. Results suggest that foraging efficiency declines with increasing traffic noise levels due to acoustic masking and/or distraction and aversion to traffic noise. Moreover, we estimate that effects of traffic noise on owls' ability to detect prey reach >120 m from a road, which is larger than the distance estimated from captive studies with bats. Our study provides the first evidence that noise reduces foraging efficiency in wild animals, and highlights the possible pervasive impacts of noise.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kita 9, Nishi 9, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 060-8589, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Senzaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Vegetation, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamaura
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA.
authors.forename: Clinton D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Francis
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kita 9, Nishi 9, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 060-8589, Japan.
authors.forename: Futoshi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nakamura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004455:Echolocation; D020387:Food Chain; D009624:Noise, Transportation; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D020305:Strigiformes / Q000502:physiology*