(Press-News.org) AMHERST, Mass. – University of Massachusetts Amherst fish biologists have published one of the first studies of deep-sea fish sounds in more than 50 years, collected from the sea floor about 2,237 feet (682 meters) below the North Atlantic. With recording technology now more affordable, Rodney Rountree, Francis Juanes and colleagues are exploring the idea that many fish make sounds to communicate with each other, especially those that live in the perpetual dark of the deep ocean.
Though little is known at present about the significance of sounds made by deep-sea fishes, Rountree and Juanes say that if, as their pilot study suggests, these tend to be low-amplitude, then man-made noise in the oceans may turn out to be a particular problem for some important species.
Their paper appears in the new book, "Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life," from Springer Science+Business Media in its "Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology" series. It compiles papers from an international workshop in Ireland in 2010.
Using hydrophones deployed by fishermen during normal fishing operations, Rountree, Juanes and colleagues obtained a 24-hour recording in Welkers Canyon south of Georges Bank that yielded "a wealth of biological sounds" including sounds of fin, humpback and pilot whales, dolphins and examples of at least 12 other unique and unidentified sounds they attribute to other whales or fish.
Their new paper includes graphics showing the number of these grunts, drumming and duck-like calls recorded per minute by time of day, plus peak volume and frequencies of various noises. Some of the sounds exhibited strong temporal patterns, for example fin whale and dolphin sounds dominated the recording and peaked at night.
Rountree, who makes a collection of fish sounds available on his popular website to engage and educate the public, explains, "We think work to describe underwater sounds is extremely valuable. The importance of sound in the ecology of both freshwater and marine systems is poorly understood. At this point, in fact, most of our work consists of making careful observations, which of course is the first step in the scientific process."
He adds, "If sound is important to these deep sea fishes, it's a whole area of ecology we need to know about. One reason is that fishermen are exploring deeper and deeper water to make their catch, and we need to know such things as the baseline populations of food fish, their requirements for spawning, their essential habitat and other key aspects of their lives. We believe passive acoustic monitoring is an important tool in this study. And, it doesn't harm the fish or their habitat."
Unlike active acoustic studies that bounce sound waves out and back, passive acoustic studies involve just listening. Rountree and Juanes have been promoting underwater passive acoustic studies for more than a decade. They hope to create a census of sounds and behavior observed concomitant with sounds from many different aquatic and marine habitats.
Juanes says some fish use special "sonic muscles" to produce some sounds, and different sounds have different meanings or functions. Many are believed to be related to reproductive behavior. Some fish use a "sound map" for orientation in their immediate environment and may even use sound waves returning from distant beaches to help them navigate over longer distances. "There is a fascinating acoustic soundscape out there just waiting to be explored."
Rountree adds, "It's not only that some fish make sounds, but we think the overall soundscape is interesting and important." This study was supported by MIT Sea Grant.
In addition to their deep-sea recording project, the researchers are conducting pioneering passive acoustic surveys of sound in many different habitats, such as freshwater ponds, rivers and streams and coastal estuaries of New England, as well as on the commercial fishing grounds in the Gulf of Maine.
INFORMATION:
UMass Amherst ecologists among the first to record and study deep-sea fish noises
'There is a fascinating acoustic soundscape out there just waiting to be explored'
2012-01-30
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Research finds newer radiation therapy technology improves patients' quality of life
2012-01-30
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Patients with head and neck cancers who have been treated with newer, more sophisticated radiation therapy technology enjoy a better quality of life than those treated with older radiation therapy equipment, a study by UC Davis researchers has found.
The findings, presented today at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Phoenix, is the first of its kind to measure long-term quality of life among cancer patients who have undergone radiation therapy for advanced cancers of the throat, tongue, vocal cords, and other structures in ...
Georgetown Lombardi researchers present new findings on head & neck cancers
2012-01-30
WASHINGTON, DC – Research physicians from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center will present new data about a complex group of cancers known as head and neck cancers at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, January 26 through 28, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Should patients with HPV+ head and neck cancers receive less chemotherapy?
Georgetown researchers are examining a hypothesis about whether HPV+ patients with a head and neck cancer should receive more or less chemotherapy.
"Given the rising number of patients with HPV-caused head and neck ...
New GEOLOGY articles online Jan. 23
2012-01-30
Boulder, Colo., USA - New GEOLOGY articles posted ahead of print examine the role of climate warming in the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, documentation of one of the first examples of land-based magnetic lineations similar to those that characterize sea-floor spreading centers, evidence that the disappearance of the Indus Valley Civilization around 2000 BC may be linked to a rearrangement of river drainage systems, fossil trees from the Cretaceous that reveal the true magnitude of past climate warmth, and more.
Highlights are provided below. Representatives of the ...
LITHOSPHERE Highlights: February 2012
2012-01-30
Boulder, Colo., USA – The new issue of LITHOSPHERE is online now. Papers present evidence for the on-going re-shaping of the Rocky-Mountain–Colorado Plateau region by young uplift driven from below (mantle buoyancy), research in the Aegean Sea that documents a newly defined extensional fault system, and study of the hydrologic heterogeneity of faulted and fractured sediment layers with implications for similar rocks to affect the flow of moisture downward toward the spent nuclear fuel geologic repository at Yucca Mountain.
Highlights are provided below. Representatives ...
Rap music powers rhythmic action of medical sensor
2012-01-30
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The driving bass rhythm of rap music can be harnessed to power a new type of miniature medical sensor designed to be implanted in the body.
Acoustic waves from music, particularly rap, were found to effectively recharge the pressure sensor. Such a device might ultimately help to treat people stricken with aneurisms or incontinence due to paralysis.
The heart of the sensor is a vibrating cantilever, a thin beam attached at one end like a miniature diving board. Music within a certain range of frequencies, from 200-500 hertz, causes the cantilever ...
How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel
2012-01-30
Japan used seawater to cool nuclear fuel at the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant after the tsunami in March 2011 -- and that was probably the best action to take at the time, says Professor Alexandra Navrotsky of the University of California, Davis.
But Navrotsky and others have since discovered a new way in which seawater can corrode nuclear fuel, forming uranium compounds that could potentially travel long distances, either in solution or as very small particles. The research team published its work Jan. 23 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy ...
Believing the impossible and conspiracy theories
2012-01-30
Los Angeles, CA - Distrust and paranoia about government has a long history, and the feeling that there is a conspiracy of elites can lead to suspicion for authorities and the claims they make. For some, the attraction of conspiracy theories is so strong that it leads them to endorse entirely contradictory beliefs, according to a study in the current Social Psychological and Personality Science (published by SAGE).
People who endorse conspiracy theories see authorities as fundamentally deceptive. The conviction that the "official story" is untrue can lead people to believe ...
IRCM researchers fuel an important debate in the field of molecular biology
2012-01-30
Dr. François Robert, molecular biology researcher at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), and his team confirmed that the phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II, a key enzyme in the process of gene expression, is uniform across all genes. This discovery, which contributes to numerous debates on the topic within the scientific community, will be published tomorrow in the scientific journal Molecular Cell.
Phosphorylation, or the addition of phosphate to a molecule, is one of the most important regulation mechanisms for cells. It allows, among other things, ...
URMC finds leukemia cells are 'bad to the bone'
2012-01-30
University of Rochester Medical Center researchers have discovered new links between leukemia cells and cells involved in bone formation, offering a fresh perspective on how the blood cancer progresses and raising the possibility that therapies for bone disorders could help in the treatment of leukemia.
The research, led by graduate student Benjamin J. Frisch in the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center laboratory of corresponding author Laura M. Calvi, M.D., is featured in the journal Blood. It is accompanied by an editorial – "Bad to the Bone" -- written by another leading investigator ...
Notre Dame researchers publish new findings on aging pediatric bruises
2012-01-30
A multi-university research group which includes several University of Notre Dame faculty and graduate students, has recently published a paper detailing new work on the analysis and dating of human bruises. The research, which is funded by the Gerber Foundation, will have particular application to pediatric medicine, as bruise age is often key evidence in child abuse cases.
Using a combination of modeling and spectroscopy measurements, the researchers have advanced our understanding of the changing composition of aging bruises and developed new tools for detailed biomedical ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Scientists glimpse how enzymes “dance” while they work, and why that’s important
California partnership aided COVID-19 response and health equity, report finds
University of Oklahoma secures $19.9 million for revolutionary radar technology
Study finds restoring order to dividing cancer cells may prevent metastasis
High-accuracy tumor detection with label-free microscopy and neural networks
Wayne State research reveals fetuses exposed to Zika virus have long-term immune challenges
Researchers deconstruct chikungunya outbreaks to improve prediction and vaccine development
Study finds one-year change on CT scans linked to future outcomes in fibrotic lung disease
Discovery of a novel intracellular trafficking pathway in plant cells
New tool helps forecast volcano slope collapses and tsunamis
Molecular coating cleans up noisy quantum light
From Parkinson's to rare diseases, discovered a key switch for cellular health
Tiny sugars in the brain disrupt emotional circuits, fueling depression
Mini-organs reveal how the cervix defends itself
Africa, climate, and food: How to feed a continent without increasing its carbon footprint
Researchers demonstrates substrate design principles for scalable superconducting quantum materials
How better software choices could cut US health care costs
Concussion history in NCAA athletes yields mixed health outcomes
Counting plastic reveals hidden waste and sparks action
Warming oceans may pose a serious threat to American lobsters
Deaths from drug-induced unintentional injury rise across the US
In car crashes with pedestrians, age and zip code may predict extent of traumatic injuries
AI optimizes evacuation, diagnosis, and treatment of wounded soldiers in Ukraine
Mastectomy linked to worsened sexual health, body image after surgery
Drop in credit score after cancer diagnosis linked to increased mortality, study shows
Use of weight loss drugs before bariatric surgery has soared in recent years, study finds
EMS call times in rural areas take at least 20 minutes longer than national average
Rectal bleeding in young adults linked to 8.5 times higher risk of colorectal cancer
Hospital closures disproportionately affect socioeconomically disadvantaged communities
Global disparities in premature mortality
[Press-News.org] UMass Amherst ecologists among the first to record and study deep-sea fish noises'There is a fascinating acoustic soundscape out there just waiting to be explored'