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| outside his window |
Ever awakened on a summer pre-dawn and noticed something missing? The silence around you in the darkness is deafening. You ask yourself, what am I missing? If you are an urbanized nature lover like
US Person, the answer comes quickly to mind: the dawn chorus of birds chirping and singing outside your open window, greeting the sunrise. Nature's chorus has been noticeably reduced in volume to the point that its is now largely absent. The only sound you hear in the distance as the sun mounts the sky is the roar of the freeway jammed with commuters.
Conservation organizations like the Audubon Society have documented the steep decline in songbird numbers due to a combination of factors: predation, pollution, habitat loss, and development. An estimated 10% of the national bird population dies in window collisions alone. Now, scientists have determined that traffic noise may cause birds to have shorter lives, consistent with previous studies showing that rural birds live longer than their urban neighbors.
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| in the neighborhood |
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology studied the telomeres* of genes in the Australian zebra finch
(Taeniopygia guttata). They found that telomeres in finches never exposed to traffic noise were longer than those of finches growing up with vehicular traffic. Dr Adriana Dorado-Correa, co-author of the study, said: “Our study suggests that urban noise alone, independent from the many other aspects of city life, such as light pollution or chemical pollution, is
associated with increased telomere loss and may contribute to ageing in
zebra finches". Previous research has found birds
sing differently in response to industrial or traffic noise, which potentially affects their ability to attract mates and defend their territory. So the next time you wonder where have all the birds gone, now you have an answer.
*molecular caps on the ends of chromosomes that protect genes from damage.
