Songbirds living near oil and gas fields in Canada’s prairies adapt to noise by changing the pitch and volume of notes in their calls, but stress affects how well other birds in the species understand them. In this first study to look at the interaction between stress and behaviour in birds at oil wells, researchers found that birds with higher levels of stress hormones made more errors in interpreting the new calls.
Canadian co-author: Nicola Koper, University of Manitoba – Nicola.Koper@umanitoba.ca
Original paper published March 02, 2018
