While collaborating with
WHOI this year we learned about sound pollution. As you know, our goal
this summer is to build a hydrophone that can record underwater sounds.
Researchers want to study these underwater sounds to determine the
effects of sound pollution on marine life. Sound pollution is a
relatively new topic that is being discussed by marine biologists. We read
multiple articles on the possible effects of sound pollution. One article discussed how sound pollution might affect
coral planulae. Coral planulae are free floating coral in the larva stage.
Although planulae do not have any ears, they have something called cilia,
tiny hair-like structures that can detect sound in water. Planula use different
environmental indicators to pick a location to settle in. One of these
indicators is the presence of CCA (crustose coralline algae), a type of algae
that contributes to favorable habitats for coral. A planulae’s choice to
settle on live CCA can be altercated when there is sound pollution such as boat
traffic. In the study below, when sounds recorded from marine protected
reefs or MPA were played it increased the chances the planulae would choose
live CCA while when boat noises were played it significantly decreased the
chances the planulae would choose live CCA. As you can see from the
results of this study, it suggests that noise pollution could be a potential
hazard to coral reefs. Another topics I read about was the effects
of noise pollution on marine animals. Some of the possible effects of sound
pollution on marine animals are that it could change their behavior, prevent
them from hearing important sounds, and also
impair there hearing, sometimes permanently. Sometimes in the case of marine
mammals these noise could increase marine mammals beaching themselves.
To learn
more about sound pollution and underwater sound acoustics check these website.
.
I cannot
wait to meet with the scientists at The Sensory Ecology and Bioacoustics lab to
learn about their research.
1 comment:
An excellent summary of the coral research and very interesting - I tend to think of the impact of sound pollution on marine mammals who use sound for communication and echolocation but it makes sense that tiny animals would be even more affected. I've been reading about a conservation biologist, Dr. Dee Boersma, who studies Magellanic penguins in Argentina, and she would like to see ocean zoning put in place. She says on land the government makes zones for industry, agriculture, residential areas and also sets aside land for nature reserves. She'd like to see the same thing in oceans. I'm not sure how that would happen since many different governments are involved, but sounds like a good idea to me.
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