Noise and light pollution elicit endocrine responses in urban but not forest frogs

Animals can quickly adapt to novel environmental conditions by adjusting their behaviour, which is proximately regulated by endocrine systems. While endocrine responses to sensory pollution have been widely reported, this has not often been linked to changes in behaviour, hampering the understanding of adaptiveness of endocrine responses.

Our aim was, therefore, to investigate the effects of urbanisation, specifically urban noise and light pollution, on hormone levels in urban and forest male túngara frogs (Engystomops pustulosus), a species with reported population divergence in behaviour in response to urbanisation. We quantified testosterone and corticosterone concentrations in the field and in the lab before and after exposure to urban noise and/or light.