DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Underwater soundscapes and their potential role in the settlement of estuarine benthic invertebrates

大多数生活在海底的海洋生物(例如螃蟹、贻贝、珊瑚)在沉入海底之前在水柱中发育受精卵和幼体。达到合适的栖息地对于确定成虫的分布和丰度至关重要，成虫是海洋群落的组成部分。最近的研究表明，水下声音可能是海水鱼类和无脊椎动物幼体在这一过程中使用的一个重要线索，但相关的声学模式和相关的幼体反应在很大程度上仍未得到研究。因此，本研究的目的是从幼虫生态学的角度了解水声的本质。这将通过描述河口声景和确定声音变化如何影响无脊椎动物的定居来完成。研究人员将使用牡蛎和文蛤幼体以及河口栖息地的声景作为模型系统，迄今的结果已经证实，牡蛎礁在声学上与邻近的软底栖息地不同，并且这些礁声在实验室实验中促进了牡蛎的定居。这一博士论文改进资助项目专门寻求通过进行实地实验来扩展这些最近的实验室结果，以测试幼虫对与栖息地相关的声音的表观反应是否在自然环境中发挥作用，以形成定居模式。建立关于海洋幼虫对声音等生物物理变量的行为反应以及由此产生的海洋生物分布和丰度模式的知识，对于增进对海洋生物学的理解至关重要。这项工作还突出了海洋噪声污染的潜在生物学影响，并可能阐明声景多样性以前未经检验的好处，最终导致更健康和更好地管理海洋和河口生态系统。

Most bottom-dwelling marine organisms (e.g. crabs, mussels, corals) develop, zygotes and larvae, in the water column before settling on the sea floor. Reaching an appropriate habitat is critical in determining the distribution and abundance of adults, which make-up marine communities. It has recently been shown that underwater sounds may be an important cue used for marine fish and invertebrate larval in this process, yet the relevant acoustic patterns and associated larval responses remain largely unstudied. Therefore the goal of the research is to understand the nature of underwater sound in larval ecology. This will be done by characterizing an estuarine soundscape and determining how sound variation affects the settlement of invertebrates. The researcher will use larval oysters and clams, and the soundscape of estuarine habitats as a model system, results to date have established that oyster reefs are acoustically distinct from adjacent soft bottom habitats, and that these reef sounds enhance oyster settlement in laboratory experiments. This Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant project specifically seeks to expand upon these recent laboratory results by conducting field experiments to test if the apparent larval responses to habitat-related sound operate in the natural environment to shape settlement patterns. Building knowledge of the behavioral responses of marine larvae to bio-physical variables such as sound, and the resulting distribution and abundance patterns of marine organisms is central to improved understanding of marine biology. This work also highlights a potential biological implication of marine noise pollution and may elucidate previously untested benefits of soundscape diversity, ultimately leading to healthier and better-managed ocean and estuary ecosystems.