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Effects of short-term multi-pollutant exposure on the oxidative stress status of captive songbirds

Ziegler, Ann Kathrin LU ; Rissler, Jenny LU ; Gudmundsson, Anders LU and Isaksson, Caroline LU orcid (2025) In Functional Ecology 39(5). p.1160-1175
Abstract

The human influence on Earth's ecosystems is omnipresent. Artificial light at night (ALAN), anthropogenic noise, and air pollution are inherent features of human activities and infrastructure and pose novel environmental challenges to urban-dwelling wildlife. So far, most of the studies investigating the impacts of exposure to urban pollutants on animals have either investigated the effects of urban environments per se or of single pollutants. However, urban pollutants co-occur, and interactive effects may arise when acting in combination, but we lack a deeper understanding of the effects of combined exposures. Here, we experimentally exposed captive zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata in a full-factorial design to increased levels of... (More)

The human influence on Earth's ecosystems is omnipresent. Artificial light at night (ALAN), anthropogenic noise, and air pollution are inherent features of human activities and infrastructure and pose novel environmental challenges to urban-dwelling wildlife. So far, most of the studies investigating the impacts of exposure to urban pollutants on animals have either investigated the effects of urban environments per se or of single pollutants. However, urban pollutants co-occur, and interactive effects may arise when acting in combination, but we lack a deeper understanding of the effects of combined exposures. Here, we experimentally exposed captive zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata in a full-factorial design to increased levels of ALAN, anthropogenic noise and/or soot and measured oxidative stress status in blood before and after a 5-day exposure. We found that the combined exposure to ALAN and noise led to a positive synergistic effect (higher levels than the sum of individual effects) on the antioxidant glutathione and a negative synergistic effect (lower levels than the sum of individual effects) on the levels of oxidative damage, measured as the concentration of reactive oxygen metabolites. Soot had no effect on the avian oxidative stress status in the blood immediately after the exposure, neither singly nor in combination with other pollutants. To conclude, our results indicate that a combination of stressors can have complex non-additive interactive effects on oxidative stress status after a short-term exposure. Surprisingly, a combined exposure to ALAN and anthropogenic noise leads to a stronger antioxidant response that seems to prevent oxidative damage than exposure to only one of the stressors. Whether the increased antioxidant defence entails any long-term costs remains to be determined in future studies. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
antioxidants, artificial light at night (ALAN), oxidative damage, soot, traffic noise, urbanization, zebra finch
in
Functional Ecology
volume
39
issue
5
pages
16 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:105000822473
ISSN
0269-8463
DOI
10.1111/1365-2435.70027
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
42810850-a29c-4ad8-8798-2ae0dd217c2e
date added to LUP
2025-09-12 13:02:19
date last changed
2025-10-14 12:42:28
@article{42810850-a29c-4ad8-8798-2ae0dd217c2e,
  abstract     = {{<p>The human influence on Earth's ecosystems is omnipresent. Artificial light at night (ALAN), anthropogenic noise, and air pollution are inherent features of human activities and infrastructure and pose novel environmental challenges to urban-dwelling wildlife. So far, most of the studies investigating the impacts of exposure to urban pollutants on animals have either investigated the effects of urban environments per se or of single pollutants. However, urban pollutants co-occur, and interactive effects may arise when acting in combination, but we lack a deeper understanding of the effects of combined exposures. Here, we experimentally exposed captive zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata in a full-factorial design to increased levels of ALAN, anthropogenic noise and/or soot and measured oxidative stress status in blood before and after a 5-day exposure. We found that the combined exposure to ALAN and noise led to a positive synergistic effect (higher levels than the sum of individual effects) on the antioxidant glutathione and a negative synergistic effect (lower levels than the sum of individual effects) on the levels of oxidative damage, measured as the concentration of reactive oxygen metabolites. Soot had no effect on the avian oxidative stress status in the blood immediately after the exposure, neither singly nor in combination with other pollutants. To conclude, our results indicate that a combination of stressors can have complex non-additive interactive effects on oxidative stress status after a short-term exposure. Surprisingly, a combined exposure to ALAN and anthropogenic noise leads to a stronger antioxidant response that seems to prevent oxidative damage than exposure to only one of the stressors. Whether the increased antioxidant defence entails any long-term costs remains to be determined in future studies. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ziegler, Ann Kathrin and Rissler, Jenny and Gudmundsson, Anders and Isaksson, Caroline}},
  issn         = {{0269-8463}},
  keywords     = {{antioxidants; artificial light at night (ALAN); oxidative damage; soot; traffic noise; urbanization; zebra finch}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{1160--1175}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Functional Ecology}},
  title        = {{Effects of short-term multi-pollutant exposure on the oxidative stress status of captive songbirds}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.70027}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/1365-2435.70027}},
  volume       = {{39}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}