Biomaterial Database

Boat noise affects meagre (Argyrosomus regius) hearing and vocal behaviour. 2021

Manuel Vieira, and Marilyn Beauchaud, and M Clara P Amorim, and Paulo J Fonseca

Departamento de Biologia Animal and cE3c_Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; MARE_Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ISPA, Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal, and Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: manuel_1990_v@hotmail.com.

Aquatic noise has increased in last decades imposing new constraints on aquatic animals' acoustic communication. Meagre (Argyrosomus regius) produce loud choruses during the breeding season, likely facilitating aggregations and mating, and are thus amenable to being impacted by anthropogenic noise. We assessed the impact of boat noise on this species acoustic communication by: evaluating possible masking effects of boat noise on hearing using Auditory Evoked Potentials (AEP) and inspecting changes in chorus sound levels from free ranging fish upon boat passages. Our results point to a significant masking effect of anthropogenic noise since we observed a reduction of ca. 20 dB on the ability to discriminate conspecific calls when exposed to boat noise. Furthermore, we verified a reduction in chorus energy during ferryboat passages, a behavioural effect that might ultimately impact spawning. This study is one of few addressing the effects of boat noise by combining different methodologies both in the lab and with free ranging animals.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009622	Noise	Any sound which is unwanted or interferes with HEARING other sounds.	Noise Pollution,Noises,Pollution, Noise
D010473	Perciformes	The most diversified of all fish orders and the largest vertebrate order. It includes many of the commonly known fish such as porgies, croakers, sunfishes, dolphin fish, mackerels, TUNA, etc.	Bluegill,Croakers,Dolphin Fish,Porgies,Sparid Fish,Sparus,Sunfishes,Centrarchidae,Mackerels,Mahi-Mahi,Bluegills,Croaker,Fish, Sparid,Mackerel
D006309	Hearing	The ability or act of sensing and transducing ACOUSTIC STIMULATION to the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. It is also called audition.	Audition
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D012767	Ships	Large vessels propelled by power or sail used for transportation on rivers, seas, oceans, or other navigable waters. Boats are smaller vessels propelled by oars, paddles, sail, or power; they may or may not have a deck.	Boats,Hospital Ships,Boat,Hospital Ship,Ship,Ship, Hospital,Ships, Hospital
D014828	Vocalization, Animal	Sounds used in animal communication.	Singing, Animal,Sound Communication, Animal,Vocal Communication, Animal,Animal Singing,Animal Singings,Animal Sound Communication,Animal Sound Communications,Animal Vocal Communication,Animal Vocal Communications,Animal Vocalization,Animal Vocalizations,Communication, Animal Sound,Communication, Animal Vocal,Communications, Animal Sound,Communications, Animal Vocal,Singings, Animal,Sound Communications, Animal,Vocal Communications, Animal,Vocalizations, Animal