Acoustic playback experiments to study behavioral responses of free-ranging marine animals to anthropogenic sound

• Published in: Marine Ecology Progress Series
• Main Author: Tyack, Peter L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Inter-Research 2009
• Subjects: Effects of sound; Marine mammals; Playback experiments; Physeter macrocephalus
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4543

Author Posting. © Inter-Research, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of Inter-Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series 395 (2009): 187-200, doi:10.3354/meps08363. Growing concern about the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine life has highlighted the need for empirical methods to study behavioral responses of marine animals to specific acoustic exposures. Some effects have been discovered by observing coincidence of effects with sound exposure, e.g. beaked whales such as Ziphius cavirostris and Mesoplodon densirostris may mass strand during sonar exercises. Sometimes new activities trigger precautionary concern, such as the potential effects of deep water seismic surveys on deep-diving endangered species, e.g. sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus. In both cases, the best way to prove that a particular sound stimulus causes a behavioral response involves experiments whereby a specific dose of sound is broadcast to an animal and the acoustic exposure and behavioral responses of the animal are measured. The present paper argues for a balance of experimental and observational studies of effects of sound on marine life, designed so that each kind of study complements the other. The research conducted by P.T. and colleagues that is described in this paper was funded by the US Chief of Naval Operations Submarine Warfare Division (Undersea Surveillance), the Industry Research Funding Coalition, the Environmental Readiness Division of the US Navy, the Joint Industry Program on Sound and Marine Life of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers, the US Minerals Management Service, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Science and Technology), the US Office of Naval Research, and the US Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program.