Pre- and postnatal noise directly impairs avian development, with fitness consequences

Noise pollution is expanding at an unprecedented rate and is increasingly associated with impaired reproduction and development across taxa. However, whether noise soundwaves are intrinsically harmful for developing young – or merely disturb parents – and the fitness consequences of early exposure remains unknown. Here, by only manipulating the offspring, we show that sole exposure to noise in early-life in zebra finches has fitness consequences, and causes embryonic death during exposure. Exposure to pre- and postnatal traffic noise cumulatively impaired nestling growth and physiology, and aggravated telomere shortening across life stages until adulthood. Consistent with a long-term somatic impact, early-life noise exposure, especially prenatally, decreased individual offspring production throughout adulthood. Our findings suggest the effects of noise pollution are more pervasive than previously realized., This repository contains the code and data to run the analyses from Meillère, A., et al. “Pre- and postnatal noise directly impairs avian development, with fitness consequences”. In the Australian zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata castanotis), we quantified the direct impact of early-life noise exposure on individuals’ development and fitness. Without altering the parental environment, we experimentally manipulated offspring pre- and postnatal exposure to traffic noise. Using a full factorial match-mismatch design, individuals were exposed to playbacks of traffic noise or species-specific sounds (zebra finch songs) pre- or postnatally, or in both life-stages.
 
Data includes: 
- measures of reproductive success of the individuals exposed to sound treatments in early-life, in their second (first summer) and fourth years of life (Data S1).
- hatching success of eggs exposed to prenatal playbacks, and their mass at hatching (Data S2).
- morphological traits (body mass and tarsus length) m..., , # Pre- and postnatal noise directly impairs avian development, with fitness consequences

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.47d7wm3mk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.47d7wm3mk)

The dataset includes 6 spreadsheets:
1\. Data_S1_Breeding_Telo_Ad: reproductive success of individuals exposed to acoustic treatments in early-life, and their telomere length at adulthood.
2\. Data_S2_Egg: hatching success of eggs exposed to prenatal playbacks, and their mass at hatching.
3\. Data_S3_Growth: body mass measurements from day 5 to day 13 post-hatch of individuals exposed to pre- and postnatal acoustic treatments.
4\. Data_S4_Morpho_d12: morphological traits (body mass and tarsus length) measured at day 12 post-hatch in individuals exposed to pre- and postnatal acoustic treatments.
5\. Data_S5_Physio_d12: physiological traits (telomere length, hematocrit levels) measured at day 12 post-hatch in individuals exposed to pre- and postnatal acoustic treatments.
6\. Data_S6_Juv_d40: morphological and physiolo...