DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22sq
title: Experimental noise and light pollution alter prey detection in a nocturnal bird of prey

description: Urban expansion has led to ever-increasing noise and light pollution,
 which impair the audio-visual perception of wild animals and drive changes
 in key activities and behaviours. Nocturnal predators may be
 especially affected in detecting prey, with potentially dramatic
 consequences for their fitness. However, the combined effects of noise and
 light pollution on predator performance are still mostly unstudied. We
 experimentally exposed Tawny Owls (Strix aluco), nocturnal acoustic
 raptors, to traffic noise and artificial light. We provided both visual
 and acoustic prey cues to assess potential non-additive effects among
 multiple sensory stressors on the ability to detect prey. We found that,
 in control conditions, owls responded equally to both acoustic and visual
 prey cues. In contrast, noise and light individually decreased owls’
 ability to locate acoustic, but not visual, prey cues. When owls were
 exposed to noise and light combined also visual detection worsened, but
 not beyond the additive expectation. Conversely, the presence of light
 seemingly buffered the negative impact of noise on acoustic detection,
 suggesting an antagonistic interaction. Our findings show that both
 anthropogenic noise and light affect the hunting behaviour of a nocturnal
 avian predator, but with a stronger effect on acoustic than visual
 detection, suggesting that the magnitude of their disruptive impact might
 depend on the type of prey cue. This implies that sensory pollution might
 lead to increased reliance on sight-oriented hunting strategies.
 Importantly, our study shows that the co-occurrence of noise and light can
 have complex and unexpected impacts on behaviour, underscoring the
 importance of examining sensory pollution in a multimodal context.
description: # Experimental noise and light pollution alter prey detection in a
 nocturnal bird of prey Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22sq](10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22sq) ## Description of the
 data and file structure This study experimentally explored the impact of
 noise and light pollution on prey detection in tawny owls (*Strix aluco*)
 comparing the effects on different perceptual cues. In the absence of
 noise or light, owls equally relied on visual and acoustic detection. On
 the contrary, both noise and light singularly, considerably decreased
 owls’ ability to locate prey acoustically, while visual detection was
 mostly unaffected. Surprisingly, the presence of light and noise together
 seemingly enhanced acoustic detection and slightly worsened visual
 detection, suggesting an antagonistic interaction. These findings show
 that both anthropogenic noise and light affect the hunting behaviour of a
 nocturnal avian predator, but with a stronger effect on acoustic than
 visual detection, indicating that their disruptive impact might depend on
 the type of prey cue. ### Files and variables #### File:
 experiments\_noise\_light\_tawny\_owls.csv **Description:** File to
 reproduce the analyses in the article (see excel file for variables
 description) #### File: experiments\_noise\_light\_tawny\_owls.R
 **Description:** Codes to perform the all the analyses and create the
 figures including the article #### File:
 noise\_light\_tawny\_owls\_metadata.xlsx **Description:** Excel file with
 variables description ## Code/software All statistical analyses were
 performed using the function “glmer” in the package “lme4” (Bates et al.,
 2015) in R (4.3.2; R Development team, 2021)