Cross-sensory interference assessment after exposure to noise shows different effects in the blue crab olfactory and sound sensing capabilities

• Published in: Science of The Total Environment
• Main Authors: Solé Carbonell, Marta, Vreese, Steffen de, Sánchez Marrero, Antonio Miguel, Fortuño Alós, Jose-Manuel, Van der Schaar, Mike Connor Roger Malcolm, André, Michel
• Other Authors: Centre Tecnològic de Vilanova i la Geltrú, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. LAB - Laboratori d'Aplicacions Bioacústiques
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2023
• Subjects: Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Física::Acústica::Sons subaquàtics; Noise pollution; Blue crab; Anthropogenic noise; Callinectes sapidus; Aquatic plus (+) maze; Foraging behaviour; Statocyst; Righting reflex; Contaminació acústica; Cranc blau; Sciaenops ocellatus
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2117/384797; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368762284_Cross-sensory_interference_assessment_after_exposure_to_noise_shows_different_effects_in_the_blue_crab_olfactory_and_sound_sensing_capabilities; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162260

Underwater noise pollution is an increasing threat to marine ecosystems. Marine animals use sound in communication and orientation processes. The introduction of anthropogenic noise in their habitat can interfere with sound production and reception as well as with the acquisition of vital information through other sensory systems. In the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), the statocyst is responsible for acoustic perception, and it is housed at the base of its first pair of antennae (antennule). The sensilla of the distal part of these antennule hosts the olfactory system, which is key for foraging. Given the anatomical proximity of the two sensory regions, we evaluated the possible interference of sound exposure with the crab ability to find food, by using an aquatic maze, and looked at the potential impairment of the righting reflex as well as at ultrastructural damages in statocysts. Although a significant effect was observed when looking at the time used by the animal to recover its habitual position (“righting reflex”), which was associated to lesions in the statocyst sensory epithelia, the time required to find food did not increase after the exposure to sound. When the crabs were exposed to natural sounds (marine background noise and sounds of their predators: Micropogonias undulates and Sciaenops ocellatus) they did not show significant differences in foraging behaviour. Although we found no unequivocal evidence of a negative impact of sound on olfactory capabilities, the study showed a clear righting reflex impairment correlated with ultrastructural damages of the statocysts. We argue that crab populations that cannot easily avoid noise sources due to their specific coastal distributions may incur in significant direct fitness costs (e.g. impairment of complex reflexes). This integrated approach to sound effect assessment could be used as a model for other invertebrate species to effectively monitor noise impact in marine environments. Peer Reviewed Postprint (published version)