Effects of Noise on Organisms: From Mechanisms to Ecological Consequences

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Background

Organisms have evolved in environments subject to abiotic noise (e.g. from waterfalls, rivers, wind) and biotic noise (e.g. sounds made by other organisms) for eons. These natural noise sources function as selective pressures on organisms, promoting the evolution of different adaptations. However, the global rise of industrialism in the mid-18th Century introduced a novel type of noise that has since changed the soundscape of much of the planet: anthropogenic noise. Although anthropogenic noise (i.e., noise from human-associated activities such as transportation, resource extraction, and industries, among others) has only been a feature of many habitats for an extremely short period of time, evolutionarily speaking, it poses severe consequences to organisms that cannot adapt or adjust to this novel environmental pressure.

Anthropogenic noise negatively affects the health of individual organisms: from unicellular to multicellular, from animals to plants, and from terrestrial to aquatic, but also the larger scale health of populations, communities, and ecosystems.
The mechanisms and consequences of noise can be seen at many levels of biological organization, including gene expression (epigenetics), microbiota, physiology, behavior and communication, intra- and inter-specific interactions, reproductive success and embryonic survival, populations, communities, ecosystems, and landscapes. Furthermore, anthropogenic noise can severely impact organisms that live in, or close to, urban centers and other human-made sources of noise, but also reaches those who live far away from these centers, as noise can travel long distances from its source. This means noise can represent a more pervasive problem than physical habitats might indicate: noise from vehicles and aircraft, for example, have been shown to penetrate otherwise protected, pristine, or ‘wild’ natural habitats. Some organisms may benefit from pre-adaptations from natural noise, evolved long before the appearance of human-generated noise, that allows them to cope with this new pervasive pollutant, while others may have to develop new strategies to persist in these altered soundscapes.

In order to better understand the impacts of anthropogenic noise on all levels of biological diversity, and to develop mitigations to protect vulnerable systems, there is an urgent need to identify the mechanisms behind its consequences (e.g. reduced breeding success) and also its ecological and evolutionary outcomes. In this Research Topic, we welcome correlative and experimental studies addressing, but not limited to, the effects of noise on: epigenetics, physiology and microflora, behavior (e.g. sexual selection, parental care) and communication (evolution of signals, intra- and inter-specific acoustic communication), reproductive success, populations, communities, and ecosystems. We welcome studies addressing any of the four questions of Niko Tinbergen (mechanisms, ontogeny, function, evolution), including those approaching noise effects from both proximate and ultimate perspectives. With the ever-increasing development of urban centers, industry, and transportation, anthropogenic noise levels are expected to continue increasing, further exacerbating existing problems as well as presenting new or as yet undiscovered challenges. We hope to compile state-of-the-art research on the effects of noise on organisms, so we can better understand its consequences at all levels of biological organization, and shed light on how to better mitigate its effects.

Keywords: anthropogenic noise, biodiversity, behavior, communication, epigenetics, sexual selection, fitness, evolution

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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