Biology subjects

Budka, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Budka, M..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Short-term effects of experimental artificial light at night on nocturnal vocal activity in a temperate bird community

Artificial light at night (ALAN) can alter the daily timing of birds activity, but the immediate effects of brief nocturnal illumination on vocal behaviour remain poorly understood. We experimentally examined whether short-term exposure to a local artificial light source affected nocturnal vocalisation rates and whether responses differed among species and between stages of the breeding season. Experiments were conducted at ten sampling points in western Poland, during nautical night in the early and late stages of the breeding season. Bird vocalisations were recorded continuously for 30 min before illumination, for 38 min during gradual and full illumination, and for 30 min after the lights were switched off. We recorded 28,839 vocalisations from 13 species. Of the five species analysed formally, only the Eurasian coot showed a significant illumination effect, with a higher vocalisation rate after illumination than before or during illumination. The sedge warbler showed higher estimated rates during and after illumination than before illumination, but the overall phase effect was not significant after false-discovery-rate correction. No phase effects were detected in the common nightingale, common quail, or Savis warbler. Descriptive patterns show increased vocal activity during or after illumination in the Eurasian skylark, common cuckoo, and corn crake, but limited spatial replication prevented formal testing. Overall, brief illumination did not produce a clear and consistent response across the recorded species. Short-term ALAN exposure may affect nocturnal vocal activity with some delay, but responses appear to be strongly species-specific. The observed patterns identify candidate species for further controlled experimental study.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Species-specific responses of diurnal birds to nocturnal conspecific song playback

The vast majority of birds are diurnal and concentrate their vocal activity during daylight hours. However, some diurnal birds can also be vocally active at night, although the functions of this phenomenon remain poorly understood. We conducted playback experiments in the Warta Landscape Park (central Poland) to determine whether nocturnal singing by diurnal birds serves breeding-related functions by analysing responses to playback of songs from unfamiliar conspecific males. The sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) was selected as the focal species because it exhibits relatively high levels of nocturnal song activity, while nine additional diurnal species detected near focal sedge warbler territories were included to explore whether responsiveness to nocturnal conspecific song extended across a broader taxonomic range. Playback experiments were conducted during the early and late stages of the breeding season and during the early and late parts of the nautical night. Out of 10 species tested, three responded vocally: sedge warbler, Savi s warbler (Locustella luscinioides), and common snipe (Gallinago gallinago). Sedge warblers did not modify song rate and song duration but increased flight activity after nocturnal playback. Savi s warblers and common snipes produced more vocalisations after playback than before in May, a pattern consistent with territorial defence function. General nocturnal vocal activity was higher at the beginning of the season, suggesting that birds motivation to establish territories and form pairs can extend into the night, providing additional benefits. Moreover, the probability of singing by the sedge warbler was higher in the latter part of the night. Our study demonstrates that nocturnal stimulation of foreign male playback of diurnal birds can elicit vocal responses from conspecifics, suggesting that nocturnal singing can occur in the absence of obvious artificial light pollution, but in the case of some species and environmental conditions, it may contribute to nocturnal social communication, especially in the early breeding season.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2024

Worldwide soundscape ecology patterns across realms

Abstract and keywordsO_ST_ABSAimC_ST_ABSThe urgency for remote, reliable, and scalable biodiversity monitoring amidst mounting human pressures on ecosystems has sparked worldwide interest in Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM), which can track life underwater and on land. However, we lack a unified methodology to report this sampling effort and a comprehensive overview of PAM coverage to gauge its potential as a global research and monitoring tool. To remediate this, we created the Worldwide Soundscapes project, a collaborative network and growing database comprising metadata from 409 datasets across all realms (terrestrial, marine, freshwater, and subterranean). LocationWorldwide, 12 200 sites, all ecosystems. Time period1991 to present. Major taxa studiedAll soniferous taxa. MethodsWe synthesise sampling coverage across spatial, temporal, and ecological scales using metadata describing sampling locations, deployment schedules, focal taxa, and recording parameters. We explore global trends in biological, anthropogenic, and geophysical sounds based on 168 recordings from twelve ecosystems across all realms. ResultsTerrestrial sampling is spatially denser (45 sites/Mkm2) than aquatic sampling (0.3 and 1.8 sites/Mkm2 in oceans and fresh water) with only two subterranean datasets. Although diel and lunar cycles are well-covered in all realms, only marine datasets (56%) comprehensively sample all seasons. Across twelve ecosystems, biological sounds show contrasting diel patterns, decline with distance from the equator and negatively correlate with anthropogenic sounds. Main conclusionsPAM can inform macroecology studies as well as global conservation and phenology syntheses, but representation can be improved by expanding terrestrial taxonomic scope, sampling coverage in the high seas and subterranean ecosystems, and spatio-temporal replication in freshwater habitats. Overall, this global PAM network holds promise to support global biodiversity research and monitoring efforts.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2019

Measuring individual identity information in animal signals: Overview and performance of available identity metrics

O_LIIdentity signals have been studied for over 50 years but there is no consensus as to how to quantify individuality. While there are a variety of different metrics to quantify individual identity, or individuality, these methods remain un-validated and the relationships between them unclear. C_LIO_LIWe contrasted three univariate and four multivariate metrics (and their different computational variants) and evaluated their performance on simulated and empirical datasets. C_LIO_LIOf the metrics examined, Beechers information statistic (HS) was the best one and could easily and reliably be converted into the commonly used discrimination score (and vice versa) after accounting for the number of individuals and calls per individual in a given dataset. Although Beechers information statistic is not entirely independent of sampling parameters, this problem can be removed by reducing the number of parameters or by increasing the number of individuals. C_LIO_LIBecause it is easily calculated, has superior performance, can be used to describe single variables or signal as a whole, and because it tells us the maximum number of individuals that can be discriminated given a set of measurements, we recommend that individuality should be quantified using Beechers information statistic. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2018

A proof of concept for a syndromic surveillance system based on routine ambulance records in the South-West of England, for the influenza season 2016/17.

The introduction of electronic patient records in the ambulance service provides new opportunities to monitor the population. Most patients presenting to British ambulance services are discharged at scene. Ambulance records are therefore an ideal data source for syndromic early event detection systems to monitor infectious disease in the prehospital population. It has been previously found that tympanic temperature records can be used to detect influenza outbreaks in emergency departments. This study investigated whether routine tympanic temperature readings collected by ambulance crews can be used to detect seasonal influenza. Here we show that these temperature readings do allow the detection of seasonal influenza before methods applied to conventional data sources. The counts of pyretic patients were used to calculate a sliding case ratio (CR) as a measurement to detect seasonal influenza outbreaks. This method does not rely on conventional thresholds and can be adapted to the data. The data collected correlated with seasonal influenza. The 2016/17 outbreak was detected with high specificity and sensitivity, up to 9 weeks before other surveillance programs. An unanticipated outbreak of E. coli was detected in the same dataset. Our results show that ambulance records can be a useful data source for biosurveillance systems. Two outbreaks caused by different infectious agents have been successfully detected. The routine ambulance records allowed to use tympanic temperature readings that can be used as surveillance tool for febrile diseases. Therefore, this method is a valuable addition to the current surveillance tools.

epidemiology↗