School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK.
Marine Scotland Science, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen AB11 9DB, UK.
Biol Lett. 2020 Nov;16(11):20200401. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0401. Epub 2020 Nov 18.
Anthropogenic noise is a pollutant of global concern that has been shown to have a wide range of detrimental effects on multiple taxa. However, most noise studies to-date consider only overall population means, ignoring the potential for intraspecific variation in responses. Here, we used field experiments on Australia's Great Barrier Reef to assess condition-dependent responses of blue-green damselfish () to real motorboats. Despite finding no effect of motorboats on a physiological measure (opercular beat rate; OBR), we found a condition-dependent effect on anti-predator behaviour. In ambient conditions, startle responses to a looming stimulus were equivalent for relatively poor- and good-condition fish, but when motorboats were passing, poorer-condition fish startled at significantly shorter distances to the looming stimulus than better-condition fish. This greater susceptibility to motorboats in poorer-condition fish may be the result of generally more elevated stress levels, as poorer-condition fish had a higher pre-testing OBR than those in better condition. Considering intraspecific variation in responses is important to avoid misrepresenting potential effects of anthropogenic noise and to ensure the best management and mitigation of this pervasive pollutant.
人为噪声是一种全球性关注的污染物，已被证明对多种生物类群具有广泛的有害影响。然而，迄今为止的大多数噪声研究仅考虑了总体种群平均值，而忽略了种内反应的潜在变化。在这里，我们使用澳大利亚大堡礁的实地实验来评估蓝绿雀鲷（）对真实摩托艇的条件依赖性反应。尽管我们没有发现摩托艇对生理指标（鳃盖拍动率；OBR）有影响，但我们发现了对防御行为的条件依赖性影响。在环境条件下，对逼近刺激的惊跳反应对于相对较差和较好条件的鱼是等效的，但是当摩托艇经过时，较差条件的鱼对逼近刺激的惊跳距离比较好条件的鱼明显短。在较差条件下的鱼对摩托艇的这种更高敏感性可能是由于一般来说压力水平更高的结果，因为较差条件下的鱼在测试前的 OBR 高于较好条件下的鱼。考虑到种内反应的变异性对于避免人为噪声潜在影响的错误表示以及确保对这种普遍污染物的最佳管理和缓解非常重要。
