Playing Recordings of a Healthy Ocean Can Help Restore Marine Ecosystems

Zulk gaaf onderzoek: misschien zijn zee-ecosystemen deels te herstellen door simpelweg het geluid van gezonde ecosystemen na te bootsen en zo allerlei soorten aan te trekken. Thx Desiree Driesenaar voor de tip.

“That potential arises from the fact that a healthy ocean is noisy: fish whistle and grunt, sea urchins scrape food from the seabed, dolphins squeal, and spiny lobsters play their antennae like violins. Animals like all this noise. Like the bustle of a big city, the familiar din of a healthy habitat attracts young creatures that are seeking a permanent home.

In some of these earlier experiments, scientists broadcast bird calls to draw seabirds, including Arctic terns and marbled murrelets, to new nesting sites. In the ocean, researchers have found that sound is one of the cues baby fish use to find and settle on a coral reef after spending their first weeks swimming in the open ocean. “We realized that the fish might be hearing their way home,” says Simpson.

“The acoustic world underwater is critical for the survival of most animals,” Simpson says. “We are starting to see the world from their perspective in a way that we don’t, really, when we simply swim around with our eyes open.”