Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR), UMR 6539 UBO/CNRS/IRD/Ifremer, Plouzane, France; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Biology Department, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2021 Dec;173(Pt A):112934. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112934. Epub 2021 Sep 16.
Marine traffic is the most pervasive underwater anthropogenic noise pollution which can mask acoustic communication in marine mammals and fish, but its effect in marine invertebrates remains unknown. Here, we performed an at sea experiment to study the potential of shipping noise to mask and alter lobster acoustic communication. We used hydrophones to record buzzing sounds and accelerometers to detect lobster carapace vibrations (i.e. the buzzing sounds' sources). We demonstrated that male individuals produced carapace vibrations under various ambient noise conditions, including heavy shipping noise. However, while the associated waterborne buzzing sounds could be recorded under natural ambient noise levels, they were masked by shipping noise. Additionally, lobsters significantly increased their call rates in presence of shipping noise, suggesting a vocal compensation due to the reduction of intraspecific communication. This study reports for the first time the potential acoustic masking of lobster acoustic communication by chronic anthropogenic noise pollution, which could affect ecologically important behaviors.
海洋交通是最普遍的水下人为噪声污染，它可以掩盖海洋哺乳动物和鱼类的声音交流，但它对海洋无脊椎动物的影响尚不清楚。在这里，我们进行了一项海上实验，以研究船舶噪声掩盖和改变龙虾声学通讯的潜力。我们使用水听器记录嗡嗡声，并用加速度计探测龙虾甲壳的振动（即嗡嗡声的来源）。我们证明，雄性个体在各种环境噪声条件下，包括强烈的船舶噪声下，都会产生甲壳振动。然而，虽然在自然环境噪声水平下可以记录到相关的水下嗡嗡声，但它们被船舶噪声掩盖了。此外，龙虾在船舶噪声存在的情况下显著增加了叫声频率，这表明由于种内交流减少而产生了发声补偿。本研究首次报道了慢性人为噪声污染可能对生态重要行为产生影响的龙虾声学通讯的潜在声学掩蔽现象。
