Effect of elevated CO₂and small boat noise on the kinematics of predator–prey interactions

Abstract

Oceans of the future are predicted to be more acidic and noisier, particularly along the productive coastal fringe. This study examined the independent and combined effects of short-term exposure to elevated CO and boat noise on the predator-prey interactions of a pair of common coral reef fishes ( and its predator, ). Successful capture of prey by predators was the same regardless of whether the pairs had been exposed to ambient control conditions, the addition of either playback of boat noise, elevated CO (925 µatm) or both stressors simultaneously. The kinematics of the interaction were the same for all stressor combinations and differed from the controls. The effects of CO or boat noise were the same, suggesting that their effects were substitutive in this situation. Prey reduced their perception of threat under both stressors individually and when combined, and this coincided with reduced predator attack distances and attack speeds. The lack of an additive or multiplicative effect when both stressors co-occurred was notable given the different mechanisms involved in sensory disruptions and highlights the importance of determining the combined effects of key drivers to aid in predicting community dynamics under future environmental scenarios.

Toward a Mechanistic Understanding of Marine Invertebrate Behavior at Elevated CO2

“…This will create a noisier environment in which it is harder for marine invertebrates to detect ecologically relevant sounds, such as those used for communication (Popper et al, 2001;Buscaino et al, 2011) as well as navigation and habitat selection for settlement (Jeffs et al, 2003;Stanley et al, 2009;Vermeij et al, 2010;Lillis et al, 2013). In a coral reef fish, predatory behavior decreased when exposed to boat noise or elevated CO 2 (925 µatm pCO 2 ), however, there was no additive effect when these stressors co-occurred (McCormick et al, 2018). Studies in marine invertebrates to determine how increased transmission of biologically relevant cues and background noise will interact as CO 2 levels rise, and if this will be biologically relevant will be important.…”

A Systematic Review of the Behavioural Changes and Physiological Adjustments of Elasmobranchs and Teleost’s to Ocean Acidification with a Focus on Sharks

“…The search was limited to the relevant subject areas (agriculture and biology science, environmental science, biochemistry, genetic and molecular biology, earth and planetary sciences, multidisciplinary, immunology and microbiology, economics) and to Englishlanguage publications; this search returned a total of 1001 publications. We then manually added relevant papers from other sources that were not found in the main search, as has been done in previous studies [34]. The added papers included bibliographic reviews on the behavior and physiology of elasmobranch and bony fishes [35,36], papers with more information on other stress factors reflected in shark behavior [1], papers from the personal files of the authors (e.g., [8]), relevant papers found in selected articles during the third step of the systematic review (extraction of the information), and more recent papers published after the search (e.g.…”

“…It even mentioned that the behavioral response of reef sharks to acoustic cues raises concerns about the effects of anthropogenic noise on sharks. Elevated CO2 and anthropogenic noise can affect foraging behavior, space use, activity level, mating success, metabolism, and even offspring survival [34]. Sharks have also been shown to exhibit changes in movement patterns, feeding behavior, social interactions, and antipredator behavior in response to anthropogenic noise [49].…”

Vehicular Noise Pollution: Its Environmental Implications and Strategic Control

“…1 Headache [97,98] Hearing loss [99] 2 Dizziness [100] Increased heart rate [101] 3 Annoyance [102] Increased risk of death [103] 4 High blood pressure [104] Habitat loss [105] 5 Hypertension [106] Trouble in finding prey [107] 6…”