Can Pollutants Change a Bird’s Song?
by Michael
Have you ever woken up to the sounds of birds singing or at least noticed their elaborate songs outdoors? Some birds’ songs are very complex and hit notes that we could never dream of. But have you ever wondered how they create such elaborate songs that last for such a long time? The secret is their syrinx or sound producing organ. Muscles control the songs detail so the more muscles a bird has around the syrinx the more complex the song. But unlike the human sound box, the syrinx is located much further down the trachea at the entrance of the two bronchi which leads to the lungs creating to separate sources of sound. The location of the syrinx allows the mixing of these two sound sources for greater complexity and variety in songs. Birds are able to sing so long because they can take a lot of mini breaths in between beats. Also the High Vocal Centre leads to this complexity. It is a nucleus in bird brains which sends signals for song production. The size of the nucleus can change therefore causing increased or decreased song complexity.
When you think of pollutants and animals what do you normally think of? Probably negative affects. Researchers at Chardiff University have found male wild birds who prey on certain pollutant-affected organisms have more complex songs. European Starlings foraging at a sewage plant were studied. Synthetic and natural estrogen were among the pollutants found at the plant. These pollutants affect the High Vocal Centre of the birds brain which controls song complexity. Estrogen receptors were increased in this area of the brain causing that part of the brain to be larger.
Increased song complexity attracted more females for reproduction to the male birds. This is a favorable trait that would cause birds exposed to the pollutants more likely to reproduce. However, the pollutant could have caused a drop in immune system efficiency. Still this is a favorable trait. It is amazing how we can affect entire populations in such a way due to pollutants. This is why we must be so careful as to what we do to our environment.
What are some other ways pollutants effect populations? What effect could this have on bird populations and species? Could this affect other species and organisms as well?
March 11th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Wow usually when I hear about air pollutants effecting populations, it is a negative outcome. Its nice to hear something positive for once! Even though the pollutants are good for the birds songs there are some negative effects. Here was a great site that I found on the effects of bird populations from air pollution!http://users.utu.fi/teeva/Harjavalta_eng.htm
This could absolutely effect other populations and species, because as we learned in class today every species effect the species that are around it. Some situations are more extreme than others, but they still effect each other. Great Post Michael
March 12th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Pollution and addition of harmful chemicals to the environment is not always a good thing as in the cases above. such as chemicals can get in to the water causing fish to eat them and then we in turn eat fish and have unwanted and unneeded chemicals in our body.
Also pollution can spread much faster through water then it can on land and it definitely does not help that we dump a lot of waste into the water directly.
The sad part is a lot more smaller organisms are being affected by pollution we are just unable to see the occurrences as much as in humans and bigger organisms.
Here is one of the latest studies on what air pollution has done and who they have affected. there were found to have been documented effects on some 1300 species in Europe, including 11 mammal, 29 bird, 10 amphibian, 398 higher plant, 305 fungi, 238 lichen, and 65 invertebrate.
another kind of pollution we think of rarely is noise pollution which can rob animals of their hearing.
The facts and evidence all say it would greatly benefit the majority of the population if we would cut down on all types of pollution in general.
Websites used:
http://www.acidrain.org/pages/publications/factsheet/biodiv.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/01209/animals_affected_by_pollution_an.htm
March 13th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Great work Michael! It’s really interesting that pollutants can increase the complexity of a bird’s song. It puts a new twist to Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” doesn’t it?
March 20th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Have you ever whondered how birdsmake noises? This is how they do:
Birds do not have a larynx like we do. Instead they have an organ called a syrinx. The syrinx is located much deeper in the bird’s body than our larynx is and for many years scientists had little idea how birds actually made sound. Even today there is a lot we do not know. However, by dint of making birds do lots of unnatural things, like sing with fibre-optic scopes down their throats, sing in a helium oxygen atmosphere or sing with their beaks held open, while watching them with infra-red and x-ray cameras scientists have learned a little about how this amazing instrument works.
Website:
http://www.earthlife.net/birds/song.html
March 21st, 2008 at 6:34 am
There is an interesting article in this month’s “New Scientist” magazinie about similar research, which suggests that birds in cities have louder, more chaotic and distinctly different songs to their country cousins. Traffic and noise may also be a factor?
March 24th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
i was wondering why it was estrogen that made the high voval centre bigger. I thought that estrogen was the hormone in females so it is suprising that it happens in males.
As i was reading this it reminded me of when we talked in class of the traits that make you more attractive to the opposite sex but also makes you more able to be caught by a predator, or risks your life more. An example is that bird Miss Baker showed us with the really long tail which is more attractive to females but is easier to be caught by predators.
In a way the same pollutent that helps the male bird in the article be more “attractive” can also break down the immune system like Michael said. I thought that was very interesting, so is it benificial or not?
well the biological goal is to survive TO reproduce. So as long as the bird reproduces it is benificial because it did its job or goal because after reproduction the goal has already been met. Anybody else have any ideas??
March 24th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
That’s really cool Michael, good post! Some other ways pollutants can affect various populations are if their habitats are destroyed or damaged them they have no where to live or no where convinient. Also, in class while ago we talked about how land masses or construction can break up populations of animals and disturb their mating patterns.
I also agree with Britt, I would think that traffic could affect how and what a bird sings. It would be interesting if their were some tests done on that, such as the same species of bird in New York City vs. a remote town in upstate New York.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
It’s kind of ironic how a pollutant is helping this specific species of birds while for other animals it may cause problems for them. Chemicals added to the environment affect birds negatively all over the world. Oil is a huge problem for seagulls, penguins, ducks and other water-birds. The oil causes their feathers not the stick together and stay waterproof so the water leaks onto their skin. The water can make them sick with cold or just weigh them down so they can not fly. [http://users.utu.fi/teeva/Harjavalta_eng.htm] This website i found discussed how the pied flycatcher is affected negatively by air pollution. The pollution causes the bird to have poor quality egg shells and growth abnormalities. The website also talks about how air pollution affects the breast plummage on a great tit to become paler the closer it is to the polluted area. As you can see, pollution can have many varied affects on birds, some negative, while others may be positive. Chemicals and pollutants affect other animals as well as birds. They even impact our lives greatly! We need to watch what we put into our precious world or we wont have it any more.
March 29th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
As michael mentioned on of the pollutants that affected the birds songs was estrogen. I was thinking and like ben said that is the hormone in females, well if estrogen is added to a male wouldn’t he get more feminine traits. Possibly enabling him to hit different notes than before. If he can hit different notes then he can make more complex songs using those notes. But it was also mentioned that the polutants affect the immune system negatively. Well if the bird has been eating food that has pollutants in it since it was just a chick couldn’t it die before it is mature enough to reproduce, causing the pollutants to be bad? Or could the immune systen crash too low so the bird was unable to reproduce? But for the most part i would find the pollutants to be benificial to the birds because it is enhancing their ability to acheieve their biological goal, which is to sorvive to reproduce.
March 30th, 2008 at 1:08 am
Wow, this is the first time I have ever heard of pollutants bringing on a positive trait to an organism. Normally it seems as though pollution kills or severely harms and organism. However, in this case it obviously increases their reproduction rate which really helps the species in the long run. I have one question though. If there aren’t any visible side effects, then why do scientists think it could be hurting their immune system efficiency? Is there some kind of observed decrease in the length of these specific birds’ lives? Oil spills, for example, do a lot of damage to aquatic ecosystems. The extent of the damage is not completely known since many different organisms can be affected by one oil spill mainly because oil can be hard to completely clean up. Organisms can be affected from eating prey that were affected by the oil spills which can continue on through the food chain harming a large number or organisms. Also as Charlotte said, these organisms are at times eaten by humans and can harm them too.
http://www.itopf.com/marine-spills/effects/
I agree with Ben in saying that the trait is advantageous because it helps them reproduce even if it may hurt their immune system a little. Good post Michael!
March 31st, 2008 at 9:12 am
Good post Michael! Even though there’s more mathing, it seems like a drop in immune system effciency would override the fact that these birds can produce more offspring. If the offspring exposed to a fatal disease as a young child, their inadequate immune system would not be able to fight off the disease and the offspring would die, so it seems like that cancels out the positive effects of having more mates. But it is a good thing for humans because they can hear more complex songs in the morning!
March 31st, 2008 at 9:45 pm
First off, I think it is amazing how birds have the adaptation to sing such complex songs. It helps them to survive to reproduce by calling the female to mate, and remember they have to get as creative as possible to attract the picky female.
Now, I always thought that it was just the adaptation that made birds have such complex songs. I always thought that pollutants had negative effects. Whatever helps it to survive to reproduce. This works out great for the bird, except its not good that it decreases immune system efficiency because that would make it susceptible to more diseases, which would not allow it to survive, much less reproduce. I found a document on it on this link:http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0006-3568(198109)31%3A8%3C582%3AEPEOTI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5
People might not be so pessimistic towards pollutants, if they now know they increase the number of birds, which will give us more to look out for when we go on our field trip!
March 31st, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Well- as Britt Gow (hey, are you related to Dr.Gow at Egolston’s?) said, the traffic might have something to do with it- Okay, so ben and I would know-when asked how was my day, my initial answer is “okay”, but a female is more passionate about her answer-I mean, a girl will use voice intonation and everything-so if what Ben is saying is true, then the feminine estrogen would give the song an esteticness that would produce a more frivalent song and that makes sense. Other than that, it’d just be considered an advantageous mutation, until that mutation makes them easier prey or something un-adventageous.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:34 am
I am very interested in this research on bird song complexity being affected by pollution as I am currently taking an Ornithology course in college. I am curious as to how the bird’s song complexity increased. Was it just because the High Vocal Centre of the bird’s brain grew larger? Or did the increased brain size allow them to learn more singing techniques? I guess my main question is: Does the increase in brain size automatically grant them more song complexity or is it an acquired skill?
-Cassie
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Like Ben said the biological goal is to survive TO reproduce, but i believe that if the bird can reproduce, but the deficiancy of the immune system is passed on through the DNA, eventually I hypothesize that eventually the songs will stop being AS attractive and the immune deficiancy will still be preseant. Thus the birds will most likely die by some sort of diasese and never reproduce. Who knows, this could lead to the extinction of this species.
April 6th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
It was really interesting to hear that pollution is helping some species of birds to survive to reproduce and also what Britt said about traffic possibly playing a role in it. As many people have said already I think that the pollution in the long run is helpful becuase it is helping them to survive to reproduce. Even though the immune problem is still present it sounds like it won’t show up till after the birds reproduce. What is interesting though is that the pollution is helping the birds, but it is not exactly helping other species. What would be interesting is if our pollution starts decreasing what would happen to the birds. Would their songs become less attractive to the females? At that point would the amount of birds decrease because they would not be reproducing as much? Great post Michael!
April 7th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I agree with Hank about how everything we hear about air pollutants is negative. It really is nice to hear something positive. I agree with what Roger said. I think that the deficiancy of the immune system is passed on though the DNA. But whatever helps them to survive to reproduce. This is a good website I found that talks about the affects on plants and animals that the air pollutants have. It lists many factors contributing to society today. http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Atmosphere/wildlife_forests.html&edu=high
I also agree with Taylor, and I think it would be a good idea to do tests in different cities to determine the affect on the traffic. That would compare cities like New York to ones with less traffic. Lastly, I want to say that I do think it is amazing how the birds have such complex songs. They are so intricate.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Some other ways that pollutants and effect other populations is by the smoke in the air or even pollen. some people never even smoke and they can die from lung cancer because of the factories and trucks releasing all the toxic fumes. and that the pollutants in the air effects humans from the way they see because since its spring everyone allergies are coming into effect and some people cant breathe and some cant see and some people need medicines for it and some don’t they just get over it naturally.
April 13th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Very very iteresting Micheal. I was reading your post and it dawned on me that wherever i go around town i see these small little brown sparrows around in the parking lots and such. I remember there being tons of these birds at a local resaurant that i used to feed when i was little. All this time i have thought that the birds were so abundant because of their ability to adapt to the urban enviroment but this made me think otherwise. Maybe as with the European Starlings, these little birds around our urban enviroment have been eating a certain type of our food that contains chemicals that are altering their song, thus attracting more female birds and creating more offspring. Maybe this could be why birds in urban enviroments are so abundant and seemingly healthy?
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Are there any additional tests on how or why these pollutants affect the bird’s song? Although the article does say that scientists have tested this it does not say what they found or how deep they went into the subject. A good experiment they should do is to expose 3 birds to different pollutants of the world in a controlled area or room. They should not expose the birds to too much chemical pollution to the point where it hurts the bird’s health but enough to notice a difference in there song. They should also test different sized birds. This would tell if pollution would affect big birds also. To answer one of the other questions, I do think that we will start to see a decrease in certain species of animals due to pollution. The reason being is that pollution has many chemicals that will make animals sick and later cause death.