Physiological responses of narwhals to anthropogenic noise: A case study with seismic airguns and vessel traffic in the Arctic
Abstract Limited polar geographical range, narrowly defined migratory routes, and deep‐diving behaviours make narwhals exceptionally vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances including oceanic noise. Although behavioural studies indicate marked responses of cetaceans to disturbance, the link between...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 |
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crwiley:10.1111/1365-2435.14119 2023-12-03T10:17:42+01:00 Physiological responses of narwhals to anthropogenic noise: A case study with seismic airguns and vessel traffic in the Arctic Williams, Terrie M. Blackwell, Susanna B. Tervo, Outi Garde, Eva Sinding, Mikkel‐Holger S. Richter, Beau Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter Carlsbergfondet Office of Naval Research Pinngortitaleriffik 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Functional Ecology volume 36, issue 9, page 2251-2266 ISSN 0269-8463 1365-2435 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2022 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 2023-11-09T13:32:31Z Abstract Limited polar geographical range, narrowly defined migratory routes, and deep‐diving behaviours make narwhals exceptionally vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances including oceanic noise. Although behavioural studies indicate marked responses of cetaceans to disturbance, the link between fear reactions and possible injury from noise exposure is limited for most species. To address this, we deployed custom‐made heart rate‐accelerometer‐depth recorders on 13 adult narwhals in Scoresby Sound, East Greenland across a five‐year period (2014–2018). Physiological responses of the cetaceans were monitored in the absence ( n = 13 animals) or presence ( n = 2 animals across 3 acoustic events) of experimentally directed, seismic airgun pulses and associated vessels (full volume source level = 241 dB re 1 μPa‐m). We found that anthropogenic noise resulted in marked cardiovascular, respiratory and locomotor reactions by two narwhals exposed to seismic pulses across three acoustic events. The general behavioural response to seismic and vessel noise included an 80% reduction in the duration of gliding during dive descents by seismic‐exposed narwhals compared to controls, and the prolongation of high intensity activity (ODBA > 0.20 g ) with elevated stroke frequencies exceeding 40 strokes per minute. Noise exposure also resulted in intense (<10 bpm) bradycardia that was decoupled from stroking frequency. This decoupling instigated increased variability in heart rate, with the heart switching rapidly between bradycardia and exercise tachycardia during noise exposure. The maximum respiratory frequency following seismic exposure, 12 breaths/min, was 1.5 times control levels. Overall, the effect of seismic/ship noise exposure on Arctic narwhals was a 2.0–2.2‐fold increase in the energetic cost of diving, which paradoxically occurred during suppression of the cardiac exercise response. This unusual relationship between diving heart rate and exercise intensity represents a new metric for characterizing the ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic East Greenland Greenland narwhal* Scoresby Sound Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) Arctic Greenland Scoresby ENVELOPE(162.750,162.750,-66.567,-66.567) Functional Ecology 36 9 2251 2266 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Williams, Terrie M. Blackwell, Susanna B. Tervo, Outi Garde, Eva Sinding, Mikkel‐Holger S. Richter, Beau Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter Physiological responses of narwhals to anthropogenic noise: A case study with seismic airguns and vessel traffic in the Arctic |
topic_facet |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Limited polar geographical range, narrowly defined migratory routes, and deep‐diving behaviours make narwhals exceptionally vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances including oceanic noise. Although behavioural studies indicate marked responses of cetaceans to disturbance, the link between fear reactions and possible injury from noise exposure is limited for most species. To address this, we deployed custom‐made heart rate‐accelerometer‐depth recorders on 13 adult narwhals in Scoresby Sound, East Greenland across a five‐year period (2014–2018). Physiological responses of the cetaceans were monitored in the absence ( n = 13 animals) or presence ( n = 2 animals across 3 acoustic events) of experimentally directed, seismic airgun pulses and associated vessels (full volume source level = 241 dB re 1 μPa‐m). We found that anthropogenic noise resulted in marked cardiovascular, respiratory and locomotor reactions by two narwhals exposed to seismic pulses across three acoustic events. The general behavioural response to seismic and vessel noise included an 80% reduction in the duration of gliding during dive descents by seismic‐exposed narwhals compared to controls, and the prolongation of high intensity activity (ODBA > 0.20 g ) with elevated stroke frequencies exceeding 40 strokes per minute. Noise exposure also resulted in intense (<10 bpm) bradycardia that was decoupled from stroking frequency. This decoupling instigated increased variability in heart rate, with the heart switching rapidly between bradycardia and exercise tachycardia during noise exposure. The maximum respiratory frequency following seismic exposure, 12 breaths/min, was 1.5 times control levels. Overall, the effect of seismic/ship noise exposure on Arctic narwhals was a 2.0–2.2‐fold increase in the energetic cost of diving, which paradoxically occurred during suppression of the cardiac exercise response. This unusual relationship between diving heart rate and exercise intensity represents a new metric for characterizing the ... |
author2 |
Carlsbergfondet Office of Naval Research Pinngortitaleriffik |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Williams, Terrie M. Blackwell, Susanna B. Tervo, Outi Garde, Eva Sinding, Mikkel‐Holger S. Richter, Beau Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter |
author_facet |
Williams, Terrie M. Blackwell, Susanna B. Tervo, Outi Garde, Eva Sinding, Mikkel‐Holger S. Richter, Beau Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter |
author_sort |
Williams, Terrie M. |
title |
Physiological responses of narwhals to anthropogenic noise: A case study with seismic airguns and vessel traffic in the Arctic |
title_short |
Physiological responses of narwhals to anthropogenic noise: A case study with seismic airguns and vessel traffic in the Arctic |
title_full |
Physiological responses of narwhals to anthropogenic noise: A case study with seismic airguns and vessel traffic in the Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Physiological responses of narwhals to anthropogenic noise: A case study with seismic airguns and vessel traffic in the Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Physiological responses of narwhals to anthropogenic noise: A case study with seismic airguns and vessel traffic in the Arctic |
title_sort |
physiological responses of narwhals to anthropogenic noise: a case study with seismic airguns and vessel traffic in the arctic |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(162.750,162.750,-66.567,-66.567) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Scoresby |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Scoresby |
genre |
Arctic East Greenland Greenland narwhal* Scoresby Sound |
genre_facet |
Arctic East Greenland Greenland narwhal* Scoresby Sound |
op_source |
Functional Ecology volume 36, issue 9, page 2251-2266 ISSN 0269-8463 1365-2435 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14119 |
container_title |
Functional Ecology |
container_volume |
36 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
2251 |
op_container_end_page |
2266 |
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1784264660123385856 |