Field-based hearing measurements of two seabird species

• Published in: Journal of Experimental Biology
• Main Authors: Mooney, T. Aran, Smith, Adam, Larsen, Ole Naesbye, Hansen, Kirstin Anderson, Wahlberg, Magnus, Rasmussen, Marianne H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: The Company of Biologists 2019
• Subjects: Noise; Auditory; Soundscape; Evoked potentials; Masking; Atlantic puffin; Common Murre; fratercula; Fratercula arctica; Iceland; Uria aalge; uria
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/23789

Author Posting. © Company of Biologists, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of Company of Biologists for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Experimental Biology 222 (2019): jeb190710. doi:10.1242/jeb.190710. Hearing is a primary sensory modality for birds. For seabirds, auditory data is challenging to obtain and hearing data are limited. Here, we present methods to measure seabird hearing in the field, using two Alcid species: the common murre Uria aalge and the Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica. Tests were conducted in a portable semi-anechoic crate using physiological auditory evoked potential (AEP) methods. The crate and AEP system were easily transportable to northern Iceland field sites, where wild birds were caught, sedated, studied and released. The resulting data demonstrate the feasibility of a field-based application of an established neurophysiology method, acquiring high quality avian hearing data in a relatively quiet setting. Similar field methods could be applied to other seabirds, and other bird species, resulting in reliable hearing data from a large number of individuals with a modest field effort. The results will provide insights into the sound sensitivity of species facing acoustic habitat degradation. This work was supported by the U.S. Navy's Living Marine Resources Program and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 2020-01-03