Silver spoon effect: Natal noise is associated with telomere dynamics in adult birds

Yuheng Sun , Terry Burke, Julia Schroeder, Hannah L Dugdale 

Anthropogenic noise disturbance on wildlife is of growing concern. Environmental noise during incubation can negatively impact fitness in wild animal populations. Here, we hypothesised that chronic noise introduces stress through oxidative damage to wild bird embryos, resulting in short-term fitness reductions and long-term physiological changes. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effects of chronic noise on chick body condition, fledging success, and adult telomere shortening in wild house sparrows Passer domesticus, using 13 years of data. We disentangled the effects of noise in the natal and rearing environments using cross-fostering. We found no evidence of an association between natal noise and chick mass, body condition at fledging, and fledging success. However, adults with shorter telomeres were underrepresented at older ages when they were incubated in chronic noise conditions. Such a silver spoon effect of early-life noise pollution has implications for the management of wild populations.