Potential effects of noise on fish Francis Juanes Department of Biology University of Victoria Rodney Rountree, UMass Photo by Tony Hawkins
Potential effects of noise on fish Sound production in fishes? How, why Applied uses of fish sounds Sound detection (hearing) Potential effects of noise
Fish produce sounds? So far >700 vocal species worldwide
Fish sounds: simple vs complex
How do fish make sound? Stridulation rubbing or scrapping together of fins, bones, or teeth
How do fish make sound? Air passage little understood internal movement of air, or escape of air through mouth, gills, or anus
How do fish make sound? Drumming special muscles pushing/ pulling on the internal air/swim bladder (called sonic muscles)
Why/when are fish vocal? " Spawning and courtship behaviour " Aggression and territorial behaviour " Distress " Predator/prey behaviour?
Drumming muscle mass (g) Male cod display larger drumming muscles females males Somatic mass (g) Rowe & Hutchings 04
Drumming muscle index Male cod display larger drumming muscles at spawning time Rowe & Hutchings 03
Drumming muscle index Male cod drumming muscles are correlated with body condition Body condition index Rowe & Hutchings 03
Drumming muscle index Male cod drumming muscles are correlated with fertilization potential Fertilization potential index Rowe & Hutchings 03
Haddock Courtship Behaviour Pulse Repetition rate changes at each stage of courtship Hawkins
Hawkins Male Solitary Display
Hawkins Sounds During Solitary Display
Hawkins Male Flaunting to Female
Some
Aggressive behaviour: gadids
How do we study fish sounds? Passive acoustics Technologies that enable us to listen to and record ambient underwater sounds Only recently used as a tool for the census and exploration of marine life
Advantages of passive acoustics Non-invasive Non-visual (light not needed) Continuous remote monitoring Provides detailed behavioral information
In situ underwater recording hydrophone Phil Lobel, BUMP
Remote-controlled instrument platform for synchronous recording of behaviour specific fish sound and video observations Base station Surface Buoy Radio link Kevlar cable Underwater bottle of anodised aluminium Institute of Marine Research Jan Tore Øvredal
Remote recording Jan Tore Øvredal, Inst. Of Marine Res., Norway
At Sea Sampling in Norway Tony Hawkins
Portable hydrophone unit 100 feet of cable Rechargeable 9-volt batteries Nomad Temperature logger Rechargeable 6-volt battery Hydrophone
SMAST Pier
AULS (Autonomous underwater listening stations)
ROVs
ISIS Video System
Ecological uses of fish sounds Locate vocal fishes Identify essential fish habitat (EFH) Locate spawning habitats/locations Exploration of the seas/census of marine life Determine when fish are vocal Spawning behavior Predator/prey interactions Foraging Territorial defense Season and Time of day Study of Underwater Noise Effects Identify noise source and levels Quantify temporal and spatial patterns in noise Quantify noise impact on fish behavior Examine fish interactions with fishing gear Rountree & Juanes
Case Studies: Sciaenid (drum fishes) Research Black Drum, Pogonias cromis Weakfish, Cynoscion regalis Grant Gilmore Red Drum, Sciaenops ocellata
Mapping estuarine spawning areas Grant Gilmore
Mapping spawning seasons SILVER PERCH WEAKFISH SEATROUT BLACK DRUM O N D J F M A M J J A S Grant Gilmore MONTH RED DRUM
Case study: Cusk-eels Ophidion marginatum, (Ophidiidae) " Range extension Discovery of striped cusk-eel in Cape Cod waters, where they were formally unknown despite a long history of biological sampling, demonstrates the usefulness of even low-budget, low-tech passive acoustic methods as a survey and exploration tool. " Reproductive Ecology Striped cusk-eels call in a chorus just after sunset. The chorus time closely tracks the time of sunset through the summer. " Noise Pollution The impact of boat noise on spawning chorus behavior needs further study Response of cusk-eel to boat noise Cal Call 1 Call 2 Toadfish Time Cusk-eel calls Call 3 Call 4 Call 5 Seasonal Pattern in Chorus Time Call 6 Cusk eel Seasonal pattern of chorus time 23:02 22:33 22:04 Percentage of Boat Noise For Each Two Minute Sample 21:36 120% 100% 21:07 80% 20:38 60% Offset 20:09 40% 20% Peak 19:40 0% 19:12 12:00 AM 4:48 AM 9:36 AM 2:24 PM 7:12 PM 12:00 AM Onset Time 18:43 Sunset 18:14 Percantage of Boat Noise at Different times of the Day 5/24/2002 6/13/2002 7/3/2002 7/23/2002 8/12/2002 9/1/2002 9/21/2002 10/11/2002 50 Date 40 30 Sunset Climax Onset Offset 20 10 0 Percentage Percentage of Boat Noise 12:01AM 3:01AM 6:01AM 9:01AM 12:01PM 3:01PM 6:01PM 9:01PM Time Interval Prevalence of boat noise by time of day Percentage of Boat Noise According to Time of Day Percentage of Boat Noise of Toatl Minutes Recorded 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% sunrise day sunset night Time of Day
Case study: Haddock Jefferies Ledge Jefferies ledge " Offshore Technology " Cooperative Fisheries: Cliff Goudey (MIT Sea Grant) Francis Juanes and Rodney Rountree (UMASS) have developed low-cost Autonomous Underwater Listening Stations (AULS) suitable for deployment from commercial fishing vessels. Collaborating fishermen deploy the AULS on the fishing grounds during normal fishing operations to obtain acoustic data needed to identify spawning sites and times for haddock, cod and other groundfishes. " Deployments to 1000 m depths began in 2004 First in situ recording of haddock in North America AULS First in situ recording of daily vocal activity (i.e. spawning) patterns No. Calls 25 20 15 10 5 0 7:00 AM Bosto n Gloucest er Provinceto wn Stellwage n Bank Figure 1. Study area located on the Jefferies Ledge fishing ground for cod and haddock. Daily timing of haddock calls 8:30 AM 10:00 AM 11:30 AM 1:00 PM 2:30 PM 4:00 PM 5:30 PM 7:00 PM 8:30 PM 10:00 PM 11:30 PM 1:00 AM 2:30 AM 4:00 AM 5:30 AM 7:00 AM 6-May 9-May 10-Jun Figure 6. Daily pattern of vocal activity recorded on Jefferies Ledge on three separate dates.
Haddock spawn primarily at night 0.5 CPUE Spawning ready 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Time categories across 24h time period Night hours
Potential of passive acoustics to monitor the invasion of the Hudson River by the freshwater drum, Aplodinotus grunniens Francis Juanes (Univ. Victoria) and Rodney Rountree (Univ. Mass)
How are sounds detected? Fishes have 2 inner ears but no middle or external ear Inner ear structure similar to other vertebrates Sensory hair cells responsible for converting sound to electrical signals
Despite the concerns raised by the increased presence of anthropogenic sound in the aquatic environment, very little is known about the effects of exposure to such sounds on marine mammals, and far less is known about the effects on fishes One must always be cautious when extrapolating outside the bounds of empirical data, and because data available for the effects of sound on fishes are so few, extra caution is advised when attempting to extrapolate between fish species, even for identical stimuli. Moreover, one must also be cautious with any attempt to extrapolate results between stimuli because the characteristics of the sources (e.g. air guns, sonars, ships, pile driving) differ significantly from one another.
Thomsen et al. 06 Offshore wind turbine sound
Potential effects on hearing? " High intensity (relatively transient) sounds can fatigue, damage or kill sensory hair cells " Unlike mammals, fish can replace or repair damaged sensory cells McCauley et al. 03
Behavioural Pile driving effects sound on hearing? Thomsen et al. 06
Behavioural effects of pile driving noise " Direct mortality in surfperches Extent of damage and mortality greater closer to the source " Startle and alarm responses when exposed to an air gun (rockfish) Tighter schools Schools collapsed to the bottom Became motionless on bottom
Potential effects on hearing? " High intensity (relatively transient) sounds can fatigue, damage or kill sensory hair cells " Unlike mammals, fish can replace or repair damaged sensory cells " Lower intensity (but longer term) may have more behavioural and physiological effects and perhaps highest impact " Low frequency noise from shipping " Higher frequency underwater measurement sounds
Slabbekoorn et al. 2010
Behavioural effects of noise? Slabbekoorn et al. 2010
Behavioural effects of noise? Diving herring school after being approached by a trawl Wahlberg and Westerberg 05
Behavioural effects of noise? Cod catch before, during and after a seismic survey using an air gun
Thomsen et al. 06 Offshore wind turbine sound
Effects of wind farm noise " Salmon and cod likely detect wind farm sounds at maximum distance of 25km Distance depends on wind speed, type and number of windmills, water depth and bottom substrate " Little evidence that windmills can cause temporal or permanent hearing damage But may cause avoidance, physiological stress And will have an effect on maximum acoustic signaling distance (masking) " Wind farm construction may have much higher impacts than operations Pile driving may be heard up to 80 km
Volume of world shipping traffic Slabbekoorn et al. 2010 Halpern et al. NCEAS
Effects of shipping noise? Shipping is probably the most extensive source of noise in the oceans, especially along the major shipping channels (e.g., from Alaska to California for supertankers carrying oil). -Popper, 2003 Plainfin midshipman
Ecological implications? " Noise dependent fish distributions Are there differences in how fish are distributed in quiet and noisy environments, and how might these distributions vary depending on sound source, species, fish age, and other physical and biological factors? How does noise affect orientation (larvae/juveniles)? " Reproductive consequences of noisy conditions Is there a negative influence of anthropogenic noise on reproductive success, by causing physiological stress, by restricting mate finding, or by keeping fish from preferred spawning sites?
Ecological implications? " Masking effects on communicative sounds Does the presence of masking sounds of different types and intensities impact the ability of fish to communicate acoustically or use the acoustic soundscape to learn about the environment? " Masking effects on predator-prey relationships Does the presence of masking noise affect the ability of fish to find prey (get food) or detect the presence of predators (become food)?
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