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

人类几乎影响着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进行交流、进食、导航和执行其他重要的生命功能。在海洋中，来自航运、船舶交通和声纳等人类活动的声音会增加鲸鱼的应激激素水平。此外，船只和船只在鲸鱼周围的存在也会增加压力。由于与COVID19相关的任务，人类对海洋的利用发生了重大变化。在蒙特利湾，在座头鲸返回觅食季节的同时，原地避难所的限制最大限度地减少了休闲划船和观鲸的同时。为了确定人类活动的变化对座头鲸压力水平的影响，有人提议进行一项独特的研究，将人类使用蒙特利湾期间与COVID19相关的鲸鱼的鲸脂激素水平与明年条件恢复正常的时期进行比较。为此，将使用AIS船只报告信息测量船只数量，通过连续被动声学阵列测量环境声级，并收集鲸鱼的鲸脂活检样本中的应激激素水平并进行量化。然后将在人类活动减少和正常的时期对鲸鱼的应激激素水平进行比较，以确定水平是如何变化的，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至最低。很难量化人类活动对海洋系统的影响，因为它需要工业的大规模变化和主要的后勤支持。人类使用海洋方面与COVID19有关的变化导致娱乐和商业船只交通和环境声级大幅下降。类固醇激素被释放用于无数的生理反应，其中两种糖皮质激素，皮质醇和皮质酮，已经与须鲸的压力有关。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、校准的宽带被动声监测系统(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组织样本，作为对当前条件的快速反应，以及在活动和干扰更典型的可比时期。组织样本将被评估应激激素水平，并与同时的噪音水平和船只活动(来自现有的跟踪信息和对船只的被动声学探测得出)进行比较，以监测人为噪音和干扰的变化在不同条件下如何影响鲸鱼。与新冠肺炎大流行相关的人类活动变化相关的船舶噪声现状为这一比较研究提供了独特的机会。这将有助于了解与不同水平的干扰相关的生理压力的程度，并为正在进行的努力提供信息，以制定基于科学的目标，在工业活动恢复到更典型的条件时策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组织系统部门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，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.