RAPID Proposal: Assessing changes in humpback whale stress hormone levels in response to COVID19-related decreases in ocean noise and vessel traffic

人类影响几乎所有的环境和生态系统。 在海洋生态系统中，几乎所有的动物都使用声音，但海洋哺乳动物尤其使用声音来交流，进食，导航和执行其他重要的生命功能。 在海洋中，来自人类活动的声音，如航运，船只交通和声纳，会增加鲸鱼的压力激素水平。 此外，船只和船只在鲸鱼周围的存在也会增加压力。 由于COVID 19相关的任务，人类对海洋的利用发生了重大变化。 在蒙特雷湾，就地庇护限制最大限度地减少了娱乐性划船和观鲸活动，同时座头鲸返回觅食季节。 为了确定人类活动的变化对座头鲸压力水平的影响，提出了一项独特的研究，比较COVID 19相关人类使用蒙特雷湾期间鲸鱼的鲸脂激素水平与明年条件恢复正常的时期。 为此，将使用AIS船舶报告信息测量船舶数量，将从连续被动声学阵列测量环境声级，并将收集和量化鲸脂活检样本中的鲸鱼应激激素水平。 然后将在人类存在减少和正常的时期内对鲸鱼的应激激素水平进行比较，以确定水平如何变化以及哪些因素（船只存在，环境噪音或两者）最影响鲸鱼健康。 这是一个获得关键知识的独特机会，以了解人类活动如何影响海洋生态系统，以及如何将这些影响降到最低，量化人类活动对海洋系统的影响是困难的，因为它需要大规模的工业变革和重大的后勤支持。 与COVID 19相关的人类利用海洋的变化导致娱乐和商业船只交通量以及环境噪音水平大幅下降。 类固醇激素会因各种生理反应而释放，其中两种糖皮质激素，皮质醇和皮质酮，与须鲸的压力有关。 将糖皮质激素定量与环境因素相结合可以确定对人为压力的生理反应。 蒙特雷湾是座头鲸的觅食地，拥有实时、校准、宽带被动声学监测系统（蒙特雷加速研究系统：MARS，MBARI），并提供当地鲸鱼样本。这项研究将收集座头鲸的活检样本，作为对当前条件的快速反应，以及在活动和干扰更为典型的可比时期。将评估组织样本的应激激素水平，并与同期噪音水平和船只活动（来自现有的跟踪信息和船只的被动声学探测）进行比较，以监测人为噪音和干扰的变化如何影响不同条件下的鲸鱼。 与COVID-19大流行相关的人类活动变化相关的船舶噪音现状为这项比较研究提供了独特的机会。这将有助于理解与不同程度的干扰相关的生理压力的大小，并为正在进行的科学研究提供信息-一旦工业活动恢复到更典型的条件下，基于战略目标的大型船舶安静。该奖项由生物科学理事会综合有机系统部门的综合生态生理学和生理机制和生物力学计划共同资助。这该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Humans influence nearly all environments and ecosystems. In marine ecosystems, sound is used by nearly all animals, but marine mammals in particular use sound to communicate, feed, navigate, and perform other critical life functions. In the oceans, sound from human activities like shipping, vessel traffic, and sonars increase stress hormone levels in whales. As well, the presence of ships and boats around whales can also increase stress. As a result of COVID19-related mandates, human use of the oceans has changed significantly. In Monterey Bay, shelter-in-place restrictions minimized recreational boating and whale watching concurrent to humpback whales returning for their feeding season. To determine the impact that changes In human activity have on stress levels in humpback whales, a unique study to compare blubber hormone levels in whales during COVID19-related human use of Monterey Bay versus a period next year when conditions return to normal is proposed. To do this, vessel numbers will be measured using AIS vessel reporting information, the ambient sound levels will be measured from continuous passive acoustic arrays, and stress hormone levels in whales from blubber biopsy samples will be collected and quantified. Comparisons will then be made between stress hormone levels in whales during periods with decreased and normal human presence to identify both how levels change and also which factors (vessel presence, ambient noise, or both) most impact whale health. This is a unique opportunity to gain critical knowledge to understand how human activities impact marine ecosystems and how these can be minimized.Quantifying the impacts of anthropogenic activities in marine systems is difficult because it requires large-scale changes in industry and major logistic support. COVID19-related changes in human use of oceans has resulted in significant declines in recreational and commercial vessel traffic and ambient sound levels. Steroid hormones are released for myriad physiological responses, and two of these glucocorticoids, cortisol and corticosterone, have been associated with the stress in baleen whales. Combining glucocorticoid quantification with environmental factors can determine physiological responses to anthropogenic stressors. Monterey Bay is a feeding ground for humpback whales, has a real-time, calibrated, wide bandwidth passive acoustic monitoring system (Monterey Accelerated Research System: MARS, MBARI), and offers access to sample whales locally. This study will collect biopsy samples from humpback whales, both as a rapid response to current conditions and in a comparable period when activity and disturbance is more typical. Tissue samples will be evaluated for stress hormone levels and compared with concurrent noise levels and vessel activity (derived from available tracking information and passive acoustic detections of vessels) to monitor how changes in anthropogenic noise and disturbance affects whales in different conditions. The current conditions for vessel noise associated with changes in human activity related to the COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity for this comparative study. This will help to understand the magnitude of physiological stress associated with different levels of disturbance, and inform ongoing efforts to set science-based goals to strategically quiet large vessels once industrial activity returns to more typical conditions.This award was cofunded by the Integrative Ecological Physiology and the Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics Programs in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems in Directorate for Biological Science.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.