Data from: Anthropogenic noise affects behavior across sensory modalities

Many species are currently experiencing anthropogenically driven environmental changes. Among these changes, increasing noise levels are specifically a problem for species using acoustic signals, i.e. species relying on signals using the same sensory modality as anthropogenic noise. Yet many species use other sensory modalities, such as visual and olfactory signals, to communicate. However, we have only little understanding whether changes in the acoustic environment affect species using sensory modalities other than acoustic signals. We studied the impact of anthropogenic noise on the common cuttlefish Sepia officinalis, which uses highly complex visual signals. We showed that cuttlefish adjusted their visual displays by changing their color more frequently during a playback of anthropogenic noise, compared to before and after the playback. Our results provide experimental evidence that anthropogenic noise has a marked effect on the behavior of species that are not reliant on acoustic communication. Thus, interference in one sensory channel, in this case the acoustic one, affects signaling in other sensory channels. By considering sensory channels in isolation we risk overlooking the broader implications of environmental changes on the behavior of animals.