6/8/2017 Motor-boat noise makes sh bad parents, leading to the death of their babies -- ScienceDaily

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Motor-boat noise makes sh bad parents, leading to the death

of their babies
Date: June 6, 2017

Source: University of Exeter

Summary: The sound of motorboat engines disturbed coral reef sh so acutely it changed the behavior of par
ents, and stopped male sh properly guarding their young, feeding and interacting with their o
spring, new research has found.

FULL STORY

Noise from boats is a global pollutant, distracting sh and

making them unable to properly protect their young from
predators.

Credit: Sergey / Fotolia

Noise from motorboats is making sh become bad parents, and reducing the chance of
their young surviving, research led by marine experts at the University of Exeter has shown.

The sound of motorboat engines disturbed coral reef sh so acutely it changed the behaviour of parents, and
stopped male sh properly guarding their young, feeding and interacting with their ospring.

The research, which involved playing recordings of natural reef noise or intermittent motorboat noise around 38
sh nests over 12 days, found that the death-rates of baby sh exposed to boat engine noise increased signi
cantly, with six of the 19 boat-noise nests suering complete mortality.

The Exeter University led team of marine biologists say that noise from boats is a 'global pollutant', distracting
sh and making them unable to properly protect their young from predators. They believe motorboat noise should
be factored in when trying to protect sh stocks and manage sheries.

Dr Steve Simpson, an expert of the impact of noise on marine life at the University of Exeter.

"This study raises important implications for managing the noise of the 100,000s of motorboats used around the
world in coral reef environments. We are now considering acoustic quiet zones and corridors, and exploring how
engine and propeller development can reduce the impact of this globally prevalent pollutant."

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The University of Exeter researchers predicted that their eld research into the eect of human-made noise on
coral sh could have wider implications for the survival of other marine species, and even birds and mammals.
They called for more research in these areas.

Dr Sophie Nedelec, of the College of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Exeter, said she be
lieved other species could be similarly aected by marine noise pollution.

"Parental care is widespread in the animal kingdom; from blue tits to blue whales, so there could be big implica
tions for populations of animals aected by noise," she said.

Noise from boats and has already been shown to aect the way sh, mammals, birds and invertebrates behave. It
can force them to change their habitat to get away from the noise and reduce their success nding a mate. Boat
noise can travel for many kilometres underwater.

This new research, carried out by the University of Exeter, University of Bristol, James Cook University, Queens
land, Australia, and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, showed motorboat noise can increase death rates
among juvenile sh.

Dr Nedelec, lead author on the paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal, added:

"Parental care behaviour seems to be impaired in noisy conditions and we believe this makes it easier for preda
tors to strike their ospring. It is likely the parents were either stressed or distracted by the noise, giving an ad
vantage to the predators in this case."

The researchers made observations for 12 days of 38 natural nests with broods of young in the Great Barrier Reef
in Australia. It found that exposure to recordings of noise from motorboats, compared to ambient sounds, had a
noticeable impact on the survival of baby coral reef sh, and the behaviour of adult male sh.

Motorboat noise is the most common source of human-made noise in shallow reef environments. The University
of Exeter scientists warned that because they broadcast the motorboat engine noise through underwater loud
speakers which do not broadcast the full range of sounds produced by motorboats their results could be
conservative.

The males and female spiny chromis, a coral reef sh which lives in the tropical Western Pacic, bring up their o
spring together, with males contributing more care than females of the species.

Fish exposed to the motorboat noise spent far more time chasing and making aggressive strikes at other sh,
compared to males exposed to recordings of ambient sound. The scientists believe this increase in aggressive
behaviour may have been be due to 'heightened stress', or distraction by the noise which led to decision-making
errors, so the sh attacked or chased sh that were not a predatory threat.

The greater time spent "chasing inappropriate species at inappropriate times" also meant father sh spent less
time near the nest, which may have left their ospring vulnerable to attacks from predators.

Adult sh exposed to the motorboat noise also spent less time feeding, which would have been likely to reduce
their physical condition.

Another coral reef sh, the longear sunsh, was observed to move away from their nest when a slow-moving mo
torboat was nearby. Predators that have located a nest they can feed from are likely to return to hunt.

Other studies have shown that spawning could be interrupted by the approach of a fast moving powerboat.

Professor Andy Radford, University of Bristol, said: "Experiments that measure survival in natural conditions -- as
we have done in this study -- are crucial if we are to understand fully the impact of anthropogenic noise."

The research is published on June 7th in Proceedings of the Royal Society B Journal.

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6/8/2017 Motor-boat noise makes sh bad parents, leading to the death of their babies -- ScienceDaily

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Exeter. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

1. Sophie L. Nedelec, Andrew N. Radford, Leanne Pearl, Brendan Nedelec, Mark I. McCormick, Mark G.
Meekan, Stephen D. Simpson. Motorboat noise impacts parental behaviour and ospring survival in a
reef sh. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2017; 284 (1856): 20170143 DOI:
10.1098/rspb.2017.0143

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