Modelling and investigation of the effects of anthropogenic noise on the collective movement of animals

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There is increasing evidence that the wellbeing of marine and terrestrial animalsis affected by the exposure to anthropogenic noise (arising from variousindustrial activities; e.g., the Oil & Gas industry), which interferes with signalprocessing or animal communication, or can directly harm animals [1].A major issue regarding the anthropogenic noise is the difficulty of assessing itsimpact, and estimating behavioural effects on animals.The goal of this research is to use mathematical modelling, combined withanalytical techniques and available experimental data, to propose hypothesesregarding the effect of anthropogenic noise (e.g., generated by the Oil & Gasindustry) on the inter-individual communication between the members of small,medium or large animal aggregations. The project will see the development of2D multiscale mathematical models that describe the spatial interactionsbetween animals via sound signals (the models will be generalizations of modelsin [2,3]). To investigate the models developed in this project, various analyticaland numerical techniques will be used. For biological realism, the models will beparametrised with available data regarding animal movement (e.g., speed,turning behaviours) and animal communication (e.g., communication soundlevels, frequency). Finally, the models will be used to test the effect ofanthropogenic noise on disrupting group-level communication, and the potentialconsequences regarding the survival of individuals.This project will not only lead to the development of new computational andanalytical techniques to investigate these mathematical models, but will alsoincrease our understanding of the role of man-made noise on the biologicalmechanisms that disrupt animal movements and behaviour, and eventually leadto better mitigation methods to increase population survival.[1] A.A. Yim-Hol Chan, D.T. Blumstein, 2011. Attention, noise, and implications forwildlife conservation and management. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 131,1-7.[2] I.D. Couzin, J. Krause, R. Jamesm G.D. Ruxton, N.R. Franks, 2002. Collectivememory and spatial sorting in animal groups. J. Theor. Biol. 218, 1-11.[3] R. Eftimie, G. de Vries, M.A. Lewis, 2007, Complex spatial group patterns resultfrom different animal communication mechanisms, PNAS, 104(17), 6974-6979