The soundscape of the Anthropocene ocean
Abstract
Oceans have become substantially noisier since the Industrial Revolution. Shipping, resource exploration, and infrastructure development have increased the anthrophony (sounds generated by human activities), whereas the biophony (sounds of biological origin) has been reduced by hunting, fishing, and habitat degradation. Climate change is affecting geophony (abiotic, natural sounds). Existing evidence shows that anthrophony affects marine animals at multiple levels, including their behavior, physiology, and, in extreme cases, survival. This should prompt management actions to deploy existing solutions to reduce noise levels in the ocean, thereby allowing marine animals to reestablish their use of ocean sound as a central ecological trait in a healthy ocean.
Publication Date
2-5-2021
Journal Title
Science
Rights
© 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
C. M. Duarte, Chapuis, L., Collin, S. P., Costa, D. P., Devassy, R. P., Eguiluz, V. M., Erbe, C., Gordon, T. A., Halpern, B. S., Harding, H. R., Havlik, M. N., Meekan, M., Merchant, N. D., Miksis-Olds, J., Parsons, M., Predragovic, M., Radford, A. N., Radford, C. A., Simpson, S. D., and Slabbekoorn, H., “The Soundscape of the Anthropocene Ocean”, Science, vol. 371 (6526). 2021.