Impact of a noise-polluted urban environment on the song frequencies of a cosmopolitan songbird, the Great Tit , in Denmark/Effekterna av en bullerfororenad stadsmiljo pa sangfrekvenser hos talgoxar i Danmark

Low-frequency ambient noise is known to cause shifts in the song frequency of different species of songbirds, such as the Great Tit (Parus major). The present study was conducted to test the generality of these findings by measuring the distribution of energy across the spectrum of songs of the Great Tit. The studied individuals were either exposed to low-frequency ambient traffic noise in an urban environment (Copenhagen, Denmark) or not exposed to such an environment (the Stradam Reserve north of Copenhagen). A trend throughout all frequency-energy quartiles illustrated that the species sang at an elevated frequency in urban environments compared to rural ones, and that both the upper-and lower-frequency-energy quartiles were significantly higher in the former. Lagfrekvent buller har visats orsaka forandringar i sangfrekvensen hos olika arter av sangfaglar, t.ex. hos talgoxe (Parus major). Denna studie genomfordes for att testa hur generella dessa fynd ar. I studien matte vi fordelningen av energi over hela spektrumet av sang hos sadana talgoxar som utsatts for lagfrekvent, omgivande trafikbuller (Kopenhamn, Danmark) jamfort med artfrander som inte utsatts for sadant buller (Stradamreservatet norr om Kopenhamn). Vi konstaterade att trenden i samtliga frekvenskvartiler var en forhojd sangfrekvens hos talgoxar i urbana milj oer j amfort med de skogslevande faglarna i kontrollgruppen. I bade ovre och undre kvartilen var sangfrekvensen signifikant hogre i urbana omraden.