Grasshoppers
that live in noisy urban environments are having to change their song, a study
has found.
Researchers
suggest that high levels of background noise may affect the grasshoppers'
mating process.
They
say the insects are forced to increase the volume of the low-frequency sections
of their call.
Results
of the study, by scientists from the University of Bielefeld, Germany, are
published in the journal Functional Ecology.
The
research, which shows traffic noise could upset bow-winged grasshoppers' (Chorthippus biguttulus) mating system,
is the first of its kind, according to lead researcher Ulrike Lampe.
"Effects
of man-made noise on acoustic communication has only been studied with
vertebrates, so far," said Ms Lampe, a PhD student at the University of
Bielefeld's Department of Evolutionary Biology.
The
scientists caught 188 male bow-winged grasshoppers from noisy roadsides and
quiet rural locations.
Continued: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20310262
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