![]() ![]() Birds in the Passeri suborder are called oscines, or songbirds. Passerines are separated into three suborders, the largest of which is Passeri. All songbirds are perching birds, an order called passerines that share a distinct toe arrangement that helps them grasp branches. The general public might throw the term around loosely, but for scientists, “songbird” has a more detailed meaning: It refers to a specific suborder of birds. So, if singing ability doesn’t make a songbird a songbird, then what does? That question is actually a lot trickier to answer than it might seem. “Something can be a songbird and not be an impressive singer,” says Audubon field editor Kenn Kaufman. Which is the songbird? If you said both, take a bow. Now hear the gruff squawk of an American Crow. Lab photo by Emily Coates, bird photo by Alan Tran.Listen to the fluted chorus of a Wood Thrush, a beautiful song known to inspire artists and enliven eastern forests each summer. (Pictured: Osbrink and Templeton in the lab a male zebra finch. “This list could very well include our own species.” “If we assume similar processes are going on in other cognitive animals, then it is reasonable to assume that a large number of animals and animal species are being affected by noise pollution,” he said. The research on songbirds suggests it’s likely that noise pollution could have major effects on animals, Templeton said. A 2016 Current Biology paper, for example, found that traffic noise impairs the ability of songbirds to sound alarm calls used to avoid predators. The newest paper continues a major theme of the research conducted by Templeton and Pacific students. I then stayed over the summer between junior and senior year on a Murdock research grant and conducted my research.” My assignment in that class was to plan an experimental design exploring that topic. Templeton that came up with the idea of studying the effects of traffic noise on cognition in zebra finches and I liked that idea a lot. “I started my project junior year at Pacific in a research course that was geared towards exploring capstone ideas,” said Osbrink, who now is in the second year of her veterinary medicine program at the University of Minnesota. Other researchers on the team also study or studied at Pacific, including: Megan Meatte ‘20, Alan Tran ‘20, Katri Herranen ‘19, Lilly Meek ‘21, May Murakami-Smith ‘22, Jacelyn Ito ‘21, Some Bhadra ’19 and Carrie Nunnenkamp ’22. Osbrink designed the main experiments with Templeton as part of her senior capstone project at Pacific, using the Pacific University colony of zebra finches. Researchers described this effect as cognitive interference. ![]() When they introduced the sounds of traffic noise, they found the finches’ ability to perform some of their tasks deteriorated significantly. Observing zebra finches under controlled conditions, the researchers watched how well they performed such tasks as pulling strings and flipping lids on the floor of the cage. “We showed that simply hearing cars drive by is enough to significantly reduce how well songbirds are able to perform cognitively intensive tasks, such as learning new skills, remembering the locations of objects, controlling impulses, and learning by watching other individuals.” “This is the first research to show that traffic noise affects cognitive performance in birds,” Templeton said, by email. ![]() ![]() Their paper is being published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, a prestigious UK-based scientific journal. The findings emerge from research conducted by a team led by Pacific University alumna Ali Osbrink ’19 and including Pacific Biology Associate Professor Christopher Templeton. New research has demonstrated that noise also harms their ability to learn new information, remember locations, and perform other cognitive tasks critical for survival. But for them, such noise is more than a passing annoyance - it interferes with their ability to communicate, navigate the landscape, and avoid predators. Songbirds, like humans, can be rattled by loud sounds, such as trucks rolling down a street. ![]()
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