Aquatic noise pollution: implications for individuals, populations, and ecosystems.

Anthropogenically driven environmental changes affect our planet at an unprecedented scale and are considered to be a key threat to biodiversity. According to the World Health Organization, anthropogenic noise is one of the most hazardous forms of anthropogenically driven environmental change and is recognized as a major global pollutant. However, crucial advances in the rapidly emerging research on noise pollution focus exclusively on single aspects of noise pollution, e.

Changes in the acoustic environment alter the foraging and sheltering behaviour of the cichlid Amititlania nigrofasciata.

Anthropogenic noise can affect behaviour across a wide range of species in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. However, behaviours might not be affected in isolation. Therefore, a more holistic approach investigating how environmental stressors, such as noise pollution, affect different behaviours in concert is necessary.

Anthropogenic noise affects behavior across sensory modalities.

Many species are currently experiencing anthropogenically driven environmental changes. Among these changes, increasing noise levels are specifically a problem for species using acoustic signals (i.e.

Experimentally increased noise levels change spatial and singing behaviour.

The reasons why animal populations decline in response to anthropogenic noise are still poorly understood. To understand how populations are affected by noise, we must understand how individuals are affected by noise. By modifying the acoustic environment experimentally, we studied the potential relationship between noise levels and both spatial and singing behaviour in the European robin (Erithacus rubecula).