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

快速提案：评估座头鲸应激激素水平的变化，以应对与新冠病毒相关的海洋噪音和船舶交通的减少

• 批准号: 2032896
• 负责人: Ari Friedlaender
• 金额: $ 10.66万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Cruz
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-15 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2032896&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Proposal; Assessing; changes; humpback

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.

人类影响着几乎所有的环境和生态系统。 在海洋生态系统中，几乎所有动物都使用声音，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，航运、船舶交通和声纳等人类活动产生的声音会增加鲸鱼的应激激素水平。 此外，鲸鱼周围的船只也会增加压力。 由于与新冠病毒相关的指令，人类对海洋的利用发生了显着变化。 在蒙特利湾，就地避难所的限制最大限度地减少了座头鲸返回觅食季节期间的休闲划船和观鲸活动。 为了确定人类活动变化对座头鲸压力水平的影响，建议进行一项独特的研究，比较与新冠病毒相关的人类使用蒙特利湾期间与明年情况恢复正常期间鲸鱼的脂肪激素水平。 为此，将使用 AIS 船只报告信息测量船只数量，通过连续无源声学阵列测量环境声级，并收集和量化鲸脂活检样本中的应激激素水平。 然后将对鲸鱼在人类减少和正常存在期间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）对鲸鱼健康影响最大。 这是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其最小化。量化人类活动对海洋系统的影响很困难，因为它需要大规模的工业变革和主要后勤支持。 与新冠病毒相关的人类对海洋的利用发生了变化，导致娱乐和商业船只交通量以及环境声级显着下降。 类固醇激素的释放可引起多种生理反应，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应激源的生理反应。 蒙特利湾是座头鲸的觅食地，拥有实时、校准、宽带宽被动声学监测系统（蒙特利加速研究系统：MARS、MBARI），并可在当地获取鲸鱼样本。这项研究将从座头鲸身上收集活检样本，这既是对当前状况的快速反应，也是在活动和干扰更为典型的可比时期内进行的。将评估组织样本的应激激素水平，并与同时存在的噪音水平和船只活动（来自可用的跟踪信息和船只的被动声学检测）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。 目前与 COVID-19 大流行相关的人类活动变化相关的船舶噪音状况为这项比较研究提供了独特的机会。这将有助于了解与不同程度的干扰相关的生理压力的大小，并为持续努力设定基于科学的目标，以便一旦工业活动恢复到更典型的条件，战略性地使大型船只安静下来。该奖项由生物科学理事会综合有机系统司的综合生态生理学和生理机制和生物力学项目共同资助。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被视为 值得通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。