Experts from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) have just published in the Animal Behavior magazine the results of an investigation with great tit ( Parus major ) that live near the Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas airport. A very opportune place, since the intention of the Spanish scientists was to know how noise pollution affects these animals .
To find out, they placed cameras on bird feeders and recorded their reactions when a plane took off or landed. "If there is a lot of noise, the usefulness of the acoustic channel is reduced and the ability to detect possible predators and to communicate decreases," explains Diego Gil, a researcher at the MNCN. Chickadees compensate for this "momentary deafness" by increasing visual vigilance and reducing feeding activity .
"Our study shows how organisms can make their behavior more flexible to adapt to new situations and habitats imposed by man," Gil summarizes. As previously noted, excess noise also reduces the range of birdsong and makes it difficult for chickens to beg for food .
The new work is a collaboration of the MNCN and Ignacio Pavón, of the Research Group in Instrumentation and Applied Acoustics of the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
