Impacts of anthropogenic pollution on cognition and sleep in an urban bird

Abstract

The world is rapidly urbanizing, transforming Earth’s natural habitats. While the loss of these habitats is the most visible impact of urban expansion, human population growth has also brought associated phenomena that have the capacity to negatively impact non-human animals. Two key anthropogenic phenomena associated with urban environments have become almost inescapable: anthropogenic noise and artificial light at night. Anthropogenic noise can now be heard in some of the most remote protected areas in the world, while, in the US alone, half of all land mass is exposed to unnatural levels of light at night. There is growing evidence that these environmental ‘pollutants’ have negative impac..