Humans may get annoyed with crickets keeping them up, but it
goes both ways. Human noise affects crickets, too.
DENVER, May 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As the sun sets and
the sweltering heat gives way to a balmy evening, there's one sound
that fills the air, both beloved and bothersome: the rhythmic
symphony of chirping crickets. However, human-generated noise can
mask the harmony of the cricket song, prompting researchers to
question if it is also drowning out the melody.
University of Denver researchers, in
a study funded by Morris Animal Foundation, evaluated the
impact of human-generated noise on crickets. Invertebrates comprise
more than 95% of all animal species on earth. Vehicular noise
exposes at least 83% of land in the continental U.S., and 88% of
people experience noise equivalent to constant rainfall. However,
less than 4% of noise research on terrestrial organisms has focused
on invertebrates.
Researchers recently published the results of this
three-year study in BMC Ecology and Evolution. Here are a few
takeaways:
- Under certain noise levels, the rate of survival to adulthood
decreased, and the number of offspring that hatched depended on the
combination of noise experiences a female had during the juvenile
and adult stages.
- For example, researchers exposed the crickets to four traffic
noise levels commonly experienced in their natural environment:
silence, 50 decibels, 60 decibels, and 70 decibels – noting that 55
decibels are equivalent to constant rainfall. Crickets raised with
noise levels at 70 decibels (like a busy street or vacuum cleaner)
were 35% less likely to survive adulthood than those raised in
silence.
"Noise pollution was recently associated with declines in
arthropod abundance, which could drastically impact entire
ecological communities of interacting organisms," said Robin Tinghitella, principal investigator of the
study and Associate Professor of Biology at DU.
"Insects that communicate with one another using sounds might be
impacted by noise pollution, so we focused our work on field
crickets, a group that uses airborne songs to communicate, lives
near urban or urbanizing environments, and can readily hear traffic
noise."
The research team analyzed the impact of noise pollution on 15
cricket traits, discovering that the rate of survival to adulthood
and the number of offspring that hatched were affected. Tinghitella
suggests that human-generated noise acts as a stressor on
crickets.
However, despite these effects, 13 other characteristics measured
did not change depending on noise exposure, indicating that
crickets are learning to live with the constant noise of
humans.
Mark Mitchell, Professor of
Zoological Medicine at Louisiana State
University, commended the study, emphasizing the diversity
and collaboration within the research team. He noted the
significance of the findings in understanding the impact of human
activity, such as traffic noise, on the immune and reproductive
responses of invertebrates like crickets.
"The research provides important insight into the impact of
anthropogenic activity (traffic noise) on the immune and
reproductive responses of an invertebrate (cricket)," he said.
"This research contributes to the dearth of evidence in this field
and can be used to guide future planning."
About Morris Animal Foundation
Morris Animal Foundation's mission is to bridge science and
resources to advance the health of animals. Founded in 1948 and
headquartered in Denver, it is one
of the largest nonprofit animal health research organizations in
the world, funding nearly $160
million in more than 3,000 critical animal health studies to
date across a broad range of species. Learn more at
morrisanimalfoundation.org.
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SOURCE Morris Animal Foundation