Effects of underwater noise
These are studies of how human-caused noise affects the behaviour, health and survival of animals. One example are sound exposure experiments and behavioural response studies (BRS) which have become an important approach in applied ecology for quantifying the behavioural response of animals to human-induced disturbance. In recent years, much of the research within the marine environment related to behavioural response has focused on marine mammals, in particular cetaceans and their potential vulnerability to disturbance by naval sonar.
Population consequences of disturbance
The next step is to understand the ways in which responses may result in long-term impacts to individuals and populations. Between 2009 and 2015, a working group developed a mathematical framework for assessing the population consequences of disturbance (PCoD). The group considered case studies that span the marine mammal taxonomic groups and reproductive strategies. These case studies pick up where BRS leave off, by quantifying the potential chronic effects of behavioural responses on individual health, and ultimately on population dynamics.In a study on grey and harbour seals in the UK, we assessed the risks of shipping noise to seal populations and the exposure to noise of the individual seals.
These are scientific experiments to test the response of animals to human-caused sounds. Behavioural response studies (BRSs) are experiments aimed at directly quantifying the relationship between potential anthropogenic disturbances and their effect on specific marine mammals. The US Navy is making a substantial investment in BRS studies, aimed at understanding the effect of active sonar on species of concern. Studying these species in ecologically valid settings often requires field experiments. BRS studies are difficult and expensive to conduct, and so sample sizes are necessarily small. Traditional statistical methods for analysis, based on null models and hypothesis testing, do not make best use of the available data, and make it hard to represent accurately the complexity of BRS experimental protocols. We therefore have been developing and implementing innovative statistical methodologies for the analysis of behavioural response study data.
Related Publications
2017
DeRuiter, S.L., Langrock, R., Skirbutas, T., Friedlaender, A.S., Goldbogen J.A., Calambokidis, J. & Southall, B.L. (In press) A multivariate mixed hidden Markov model for blue whale behavior and responses to sound exposure. Annals of Applied Statistics.
2016
Aguilar De Soto N, Gkikopoulou K, Hooker S, Isojunno S, Johnson M, Miller P et al. 2016. From physiology to policy: a review of physiological noise effects on marine fauna with implications for mitigation. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics. 27(1). 040008. Available from DOI: 10.1121/2.0000299
2015
Curé, C., Doksaeter-Sivle, L., Visser, F., Wensveen, P.J., Isojunno, S., Harris, C.M., Kvadsheim, P., Lam, F.P.A. & Miller, P.J.O. 2015. Predator sound playbacks reveal strong avoidance responses in a fight strategist baleen whale. Marine Ecology Progress Series 526, 267-282.
2014
Antunes, A., Kvadsheim, P.H., Lam, F.P.A., Tyack, P.L., Thomas, L., Wensveen P.J. & Miller. P.J.O. 2014. High thresholds for avoidance of sonar by free-ranging long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas). Marine Pollution Bulletin, 83(1), 165-180.
New, L.F., Clark, J.S., Costa, D. P., Fleishman, E., Hindell, M.A., Klanjscek, T., Lusseau, D., Kraus, S., McMahon, C.R., Robinson, P.W., Schick, R.S., Schwarz, L.K., Simmons, S.E., Thomas, L, Tyack, P. & Harwood, J. 2014. Using short-term measures of behaviour to estimate long-term fitness of southern elephant seals. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 496, 99-108.
2013
DeRuiter, S.L., Southall, B.L., Calambokidis, J., Zimmer, W.M.X., Sadykova, D., Falcone, E.A., Friedlaender, A.S., Joseph, J.E., Moretti, D., Schorr, G.S., Thomas, L. & Tyack, P.L. 2013. First direct measurements of behavioral responses by Cuvier's beaked whales to mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar. Biology Letters, 9, 20130223.
2012
Southall, B.L., Moretti, D.J., Abraham, B., Calambokidis, J., DeRuiter, S.L. & Tyack, P.L. 2012. Marine mammal behavioral response studies in southern California: Advances in technology and experimental methods. Marine Technology Society Journal, 46(4), 46-59.Related Links
Research by Dr. Catriona Harris
