Impacts of anthropogenic noise on reproduction and survival

自工业革命以来，产生噪音的人类活动，如城市化、交通运输和资源开发，有所增加，并改变了陆地和水生生态系统的声音景观。人为(人造)噪声现在被认为是环境变化的主要组成部分和国际关注的污染物；例如，它被列入欧洲委员会海洋战略框架指令(MSFD)和美国国家环境政策法案，并作为国际海事组织环境议程的永久项目。鱼类可以利用自然声音进行交流、定位和栖息地选择，但我们知道人为噪声会增加它们的压力水平，影响交流、觅食和运动。然而，很难预测这可能对个人健康(生存和繁殖)意味着什么，从而对人口和社区意味着什么。我们最近的工作表明，短期暴露在摩托艇噪音中会影响鱼类的反捕食者行为，导致遇到自然捕食者时的死亡率翻一番，但我们还不知道长期噪音暴露如何影响其他关键的生活史过程。这个项目的目的是使用一个已建立的野外研究系统(珊瑚鱼)来评估一个主要的人为噪音来源(摩托艇)对具有直接适合性和生态影响的关键生活史过程(繁殖、胚胎和幼体存活)的影响。我们将驾驶船只绕过多刺棘鱼和安邦柔鱼的巢穴，评估所产生的噪音对繁殖和早期生存的影响。随后对圈养繁殖种群进行的实验将使我们能够分离噪声暴露对父母、胚胎和幼虫生长和死亡的相对影响。使用独特可识别的应答器、详细的野外观察和对卵捕食者的实验操作将使我们能够确定船只噪音如何影响父母照看卵和守护巢的表现，以及对繁殖结果的影响。聚焦珊瑚礁鱼在21世纪特别重要，因为它们所依赖的珊瑚礁是全球受威胁最严重的海洋生态系统之一，但它们为25%的鱼类物种提供了栖息地，并支持养活5亿人和1亿人生计的渔业，通常在世界上最贫穷的国家。我们将测试摩托艇产生的噪音的影响，主要有两个原因。首先，因为沿海地区正在经历前所未有的人口增长，沿海娱乐和旅游业显著增长，包括划船(例如，到2040年，美国注册的机动船有1250万艘，大堡礁预计将有50万艘船)。第二，由于将船只开到珊瑚礁上自然和人工操纵的栖息地附近是可行的，我们可以进行仔细控制的实验，这些实验在逻辑上对其他海洋人为噪音来源(例如打桩和航运)具有更大的挑战性。我们将与海事经理、船只发动机制造商、旅游和渔业经营者以及自然保护机构合作，测试现代四冲程船用发动机是否比传统的两冲程发动机影响小，并确定每种发动机类型的影响范围。我们的研究将直接为未来的船舶发动机设计提供参考，并为制定大堡礁和欧美水域噪音管理计划提供亟需的证据。

Noise-generating human activities, such as urbanisation, transportation and the exploitation of resources, have increased since the Industrial Revolution and have changed the acoustic landscape of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Anthropogenic (man-made) noise is now recognised as a major component of environmental change and a pollutant of international concern; for example, it is included in the European Commission Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the US National Environment Policy Act, and as a permanent item on the environmental agenda of the International Maritime Organization.Fish can use natural sounds for communication, orientation and habitat selection, but we know that anthropogenic noise can raise their stress levels and affect communication, foraging and movement. However, it is difficult to predict what this might mean for individual fitness (survival and reproduction), and thus for populations and communities. Our recent work has shown that short-term exposure to motorboat noise can affect fish anti-predator behaviour, causing a doubling in mortality when encountering natural predators, but as yet we don't know how longer-term noise exposure affects other key life-history processes.The aim of this project is to use an established field-based study system (coral reef fish) to assess the impacts of a major source of anthropogenic noise (motorboats) on key life-history processes (reproduction, embryonic and larval survival) that have direct fitness and ecological implications. Driving boats around nests of the spiny chromis Acanthochromis polyacanthus and the Ambon damselfish Pomacentrus amboinensis, we will assess the impacts of the generated noise on reproduction and early-life survival. Subsequent experiments with captive-breeding populations will allow us to separate the relative effects of noise exposure on parents, embryos and larvae for offspring growth and mortality. Use of uniquely identifiable transponders, detailed field observations and experimental manipulations of egg predators will enable us to determine how boat noise affects the performance of parents tending eggs and guarding nests, and the consequences for reproductive output.Focussing on coral reef fish is especially important in the 21st Century as the reefs upon which they depend are among the most globally threatened marine ecosystems, yet they provide habitat for 25% of all fish species, and support fisheries that feed 0.5 billion people and the livelihoods of 100s millions, often in the world's poorest countries. We will test impacts of noise generated by motorboats for two main reasons. First, because coastal regions are experiencing unprecedented human population growth, with a significant rise in coastal recreation and tourism, including boating (e.g. 12.5 million registered powerboats in the USA, 0.5 million boats predicted for the Great Barrier Reef by 2040). Second, because it is feasible to drive boats near to natural and manipulated habitats on coral reefs, we can conduct carefully controlled experiments that are logistically far more challenging with other sources of marine anthropogenic noise (e.g. pile-driving and shipping).We will work in partnership with marine managers, boat-engine manufacturers, tourism and fishing operators, and conservation agencies to test whether modern four-stroke boat engines have less impact than traditional two-stroke engines, and determine the zone of impact for each engine type. Our research will directly inform future boat-engine design, and provide much-needed evidence for developing management plans for noise on the Great Barrier Reef and in European and US waters.