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https://theconversation.com/ive-been-listening-to-seagrass-meadows-to-understand-how-their-underwater-soundscapes-reflect-biodiversity-231610>
"The rugged west coast of Scotland looks glorious in the sunshine. The
turquoise sea is calm but even in July, it’s a chilly 12°C. Armed with my
recording kit, snorkelling equipment and my thick wetsuit, I’ve been listening
to the marine creatures living in three different Scottish seagrass meadows.
For my marine ecology PhD, I’m investigating the biodiversity of Scottish
seagrass meadows which, right now in midsummer, are in full bloom. Unlike
seaweed, this marine plant has got flowers, seeds, pollen and underground
roots.
Seagrass meadows are buzzing with activity. Sea snails scrape rocks as they eat
algae, young fish feed on tiny zooplankton, crabs fight to defend their
territories, plus birds, seals and otters hunt for food.
There’s a cacophony of sounds from all of this busy-ness and I’m researching
how seagrass soundscapes – that’s the collections of sounds that can be heard
in an environment – differ depending on the wildlife living there. Hearing a
wider variety of sounds might mean there are more animals in the seagrass and
potentially indicate a healthier, more biodiverse seagrass meadow.
Seagrass meadows have declined drastically due to sediment and nutrient runoff
from agriculture, coastal development, destructive fishing practices and
disease. The UK has lost more than 40% of its seagrass cover, possibly up to
90% compared to pre-industrial levels. Globally, 29% of seagrass has
disappeared since the 18th century, and the rate of decline has accelerated,
with about 7% lost every year since the 1990s.
Seagrass is an important breeding ground for fish, it improves water quality
and acts as a carbon store. So its decline affects the marine creatures living
within the habitat, animals further up the food chain and ocean health more
broadly.
Recording soundscapes in seagrass is useful because it allows researchers like
me to detect creatures that we can’t necessarily see, either because they’re
camouflaged or hiding, or perhaps nocturnal. It also causes minimal disturbance
compared to some other monitoring methods, and it could become cheap and
efficient. In the future, you may be able to simply put down a recorder, pick
it up, run some algorithms and get some information about the animals present."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
