Gorissen Leen, Snoeijs Tinne, Duyse Els Van, Eens Marcel
Department of Biology, University of Antwerp (CDE), Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
Oecologia. 2005 Sep;145(3):504-9. doi: 10.1007/s00442-005-0091-7. Epub 2005 Sep 29.
Although several studies have suggested that behavioural measures may be more comprehensive than other biomarkers for indicating an organism's health or welfare, this has rarely been investigated in free-living terrestrial vertebrates. Here we examine the expression of dawn singing behaviour in a free-living small songbird in relation to environmental pollution. We compared the singing behaviour of male great tits Parus major inhabiting an area extremely polluted with heavy metals with that of males inhabiting areas of low(er) pollution (at 4 and 20 km distance from the pollution source). Males at the most polluted site had a significantly smaller repertoire size than males at the two other sites. They also produced a significantly lower total amount of song during the dawn chorus than the males at a distance of 4 km from the pollution source. Our results, although non-experimental and obtained in field conditions, strongly suggest that heavy metal pollution might affect the expression of singing behaviour. Taking into account that previous studies were not able to detect clear, straightforward differences between the health of great tits at the most polluted site and at 4 km distance from the pollution source, our results suggest that the singing behaviour of great tits may be a useful indicator of environmental stress at the population level.
尽管多项研究表明，行为指标在指示生物体的健康或福祉方面可能比其他生物标志物更为全面，但在自由生活的陆生脊椎动物中，这一点很少得到研究。在此，我们研究了一种自由生活的小型鸣禽的晨鸣行为表达与环境污染的关系。我们比较了栖息在重金属污染极其严重地区的雄性大山雀（Parus major）的鸣叫行为与栖息在污染程度较低（距离污染源4公里和20公里处）地区的雄性大山雀的鸣叫行为。污染最严重地点的雄性大山雀的曲目数量明显少于其他两个地点的雄性大山雀。它们在黎明合唱期间发出的鸣叫总量也明显低于距离污染源4公里处的雄性大山雀。我们的结果虽然是非实验性的且是在野外条件下获得的，但有力地表明重金属污染可能会影响鸣叫行为的表达。鉴于之前的研究未能检测到污染最严重地点的大山雀与距离污染源4公里处的大山雀在健康状况上存在明显、直接的差异，我们的结果表明大山雀的鸣叫行为可能是种群水平环境压力的一个有用指标。
