ScienceDaily (Mar. 13, 2009) — Anthropogenic, or human generated, sounds have the potential to significantly affect the lives of aquatic animals - from the individual animal's well-being, right through to its reproduction, migration and even survival of the species.

According to a new study marine animals could suffer detrimental effects ranging from a loss of hearing to increased stressed levels as a result of environmental noise - in ways not dissimilar to humans and land animals. The study also describes some recent well-controlled experimental studies while highlighting areas for future study.

"Human generated sounds in the marine environment may result in only small shifts in behavior for some animals, but immediate death in others. With the vast increase in production of sound in the marine environment due to human activity such as oil exploration, shipping and construction, the effect of human-generated sounds on the aquatic life becomes a growing issue", said Dr. Arthur Popper from the University of Maryland, USA.

Marine animals use sounds to communicate and to glean information about their environment. Unlike the "visual scene" developed by the animal's sense of sight, the "auditory scene" derived from sounds provides marine animals with a three dimensional view of the world and extends far beyond the visual scene.

Dr. Popper added, "The detection of the auditory scene plays a critical role in sound detection - along with the detection of communication signals. Anything in the environment that alters the organism's ability to detect and analyze its auditory scene has the potential to cause a detrimental impact on the life of the animal as well as the survival of the species".

Journal reference:

1. . The effects of human-generated sound on fish. Integrative Zoology, (in press)

enlarge

Shark and other fish. Marine animals could suffer detrimental effects ranging from a loss of hearing to increased stressed levels as a result of environmental noise - in ways not dissimilar to humans and land animals. (Credit: iStockphoto/Ricardo Azoury)

Related Stories

What Do Squid Hear? Scientists Learn How Sensitive The Translucent Animals Are To Noise (July 31, 2008) — The ocean is a noisy place. Although we don't hear much when we stick our heads underwater, the right instruments can reveal a symphony of sound. The noisemakers range from the low-frequency bass ...  > read more

Sonar Study Shows No Harm To Trout (July 26, 2007) — High powered sonar, like that used by U.S. Navy ships, did not harm test fish, including their hearing, in a controlled setting. The research team found that exposure to high intensity, low frequency ...  > read more

Manatees Can Probably Hear Which Directions Boats Approach From (June 24, 2009) — Endangered manatees are often at risk from collisions with boats, but no one knew if the mammals could tell which directions sounds come from to escape injury. New research shows that manatees can ...  > read more

Manganese Damages Immune Response In Marine Animals, Research Finds (Aug. 15, 2009) — Hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, in bottom waters is a well known environmental problem. New research in Sweden adds to the list of ill effects: hypoxia leads to increased levels of manganese, which ...  > read more

Search ScienceDaily

Protecting Rare Marine Animals