Horvevdiiligle feeJ"ithere is much to be learned from taking a step back and idii'SiAdiing research focused on the effects of any environmental noise on vildlife, whether it is anthropogenic or 'natural'. This enables researchers to take advantage of over a half-century of extensive laboratorywork conducted on well-characterised focal species such as rz:ts (Rittur noneglcut) and mice (Mas masctkl.Although the results of this work may not be broadly applicable to all species and habitats, they provide a usefi:l starting point for
formulating detailed hypotheses about which life history characteristics
might be influenced by noise and undet what conditions.
Furthermore, a good portion of the general noise literature explores
relationships that have not yet been investigated in an anthropogenic
context, including the effects of noise stress on various aspects of
physiology and development. Understanding how acoustic stimuli
impact these fundamental biological processes is vital for elucidating
the mechanisms linking environmental ooise rvith animal behaviour
(including distribution throughout the iandscape) and both proximate
and ultimate impacts on fitness traits.
It is our hope that this review rvill prornote interdisciplinary
collaboration, allowing us to understand the effects ofnoise from the
level of the gene all the way up to landscapeJevel pattems and
processes. To that end, rve have considered a divetse array oflitemture
on captive and wild an.imals from a variety of taxa. There is an
emphasis on terrestrial animals - particularly mammals - because
these are the species that have received the most attention. As this is a
telatively broad overview, we have sometimes focused on representative
results rather than performing an exhaustive review. Ve have
otganised our discussion into eight categories that coffespond to
systems that are impacted by exposute to envitonmental noise: the
neuroendocrine system, reproduction and development, metabolism,
cardiovascular health, cognition and sleep, audition and cochlear
molphology, the immune system, and DNA integrity and genes.
Although rve have arranged the discussion into discrete secrions
associated with each of these categories, we wish to stress that these
systems often interact (as we note in many examples). We begin with
the neuroendocrine system, perhaps the most macrobiological