1-11 Sat Jan 2 Tolerant toadlets: anthropogenic noise and light pollution increases feeding efficiency in juvenile common toads (Bufo bufo) Ujhegyi, N*; Bombay, B; Bókony, V; Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research; Pangea Cultural and Environmental Association; Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research ujhegyi.nikolett@gmail.com
Anthropogenic environmental change, such as noise and light pollution may have negative impacts on wild animals, yet several species maintain viable populations in urbanized areas. We investigated the effects of daytime noise and night at light on the foraging performance of juvenile common toads, an anuran amphibian that occurs throughout Europe in natural as well as anthropogenic habitats. We raised 26 common toads from eggs to 3 months of age in the lab, and tested their foraging success using house crickets (Acheta domesticus) as prey in two urban‐like and two control situations. We put 20 small crickets into the toadlet’s home box for 8 hours in each test, during which we exposed the animals to either a play-back of urban noise at day (45-98 dB) or light at night (39 lux) or no disturbance (a daytime and a nighttime control test). We found that the toadlets’ feeding efficiency significantly increased during both anthropogenic treatments compared to the control situations. Toadlets that responded more strongly (in terms of change in foraging efficiency) to light at night had also stronger response to noise, suggesting consistent individual variation in tolerance to anthropogenic stress. Our results suggest that common toad is a species with good adaptability that may be able to exploit urban habitats due to its physiological or behavioral flexibility. This is in line with our earlier finding that urban toad tadpoles show more efficient regulation of the hormonal response to stress than tadpoles living in natural habitats.