Guidelines to address the issue of the impact of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals in the ACCOBAMS area.

This document has been requested by the ACCOBAMS Secretariat to provide a concise summary of guidelines for setting up a permit system to regulate acoustic pollution that could be a threat to marine mammals in the Agreement Area. It is a follow up of the Report SC3/Doc 20 presented at the 3rd Scientific Committee meeting

The response of the male freshwater goby to natural and synthetic male courtship sound playback following exposure to different female sexual sitimuli.

Among teleosts, field and laboratory experiments have shown the playback of male courtship sounds often elicits competitive courtship and sound emission in the territorial male. However, the importance of female stimulation for the male response to the sound is poorly understood. In this study, playback experiments with the freshwater goby, Padogobius martensii, examined the response of resident males (i.e. males individually housed within laboratory tanks for at least 5 days) to natural and synthetic male courtship sounds after exposure to chemical or visual stimuli from a ripe female. All playback tests consisted of one experimental (sound playback) and two control treatments, all of equal duration. Three experiments were conducted on a first group of 12 males using natural courtship sounds. Experiment 1 consisted of playing back the sound to a male that had not exposed to female stimulation for at least 24 hr. The same male was exposed to the “female pheromone” by dropping a few cm3 of female holding water into the male’s tank, just prior to playback (Experiment 2), or to the view of a live ripe female in a close-by tank, during playback (Experiment 3). The sound playback failed to elicit positive responses by males not exposed to female stimuli (Experiment 1), and did not increase courtship activity of the male in visual contact with the female (Experiment 3). However, it increased swimming activity and facilitated courtship and sound production in the male after an increase in sexual arousal by prior chemical stimulation (Experiment 2). In Experiment 4, the synthetic version of the courtship sound and one deprived of pulse-rate modulation and harmonic content (pure tone) were played back to 10 resident males following prior chemical stimulation. The synthetic courtship sound, but not the pure tone, was effective in eliciting positive responses by the sexually aroused male. Functional implications of the responses to the courtship sound for the territorial male are discussed. The results are relevant to the understanding of the role of sound communication and interception among gobies and to develop playback experiments in the field

Biodiversity impacts of ship movement, noise, grounding and anchoring

Marine life in the Mediterranean Sea is threatened by intensive human activities such as fisheries, ship traffic, pollution and coastal development. Cetaceans and other vertebrates are affected not only by chemical pollution, but also by noise pollution (Richardson et al., 1995; Simmonds et al., 2004). Noise has become a ubiquitous form of marine pollution, especially in areas of heavy maritime traffic and along developed coasts. Intense underwater noise is generated by airguns, widely used for geophysical exploration in the oil and gas industry as well as for academic and government research purposes; by high power sonar, either military or civilian; by ship traffic; by shoreline and offshore construction works; and by a number of other commercial, scientific, military and industrial sources. The most powerful noises (from airguns, sonars, and explosions) may directly injure animals in the vicinity of the source. General ship traffic, heavy industries on the coast and a variety of other human activities generally do not generate such intense noise, but the acoustic pollution they produce is constant over time and may affect large areas. It may be a serious hazard not only to individual animals, but also to entire populations. Such increased background noise affects underwater life just as airborne noise affects terrestrial animals, including human beings.peer-reviewe

Editorial: Advances in ecoacoustics

Presentation of a Special Issue on ecoacoustics with analysis of the contributions and of the current knowledge gaps

Trumpet sounds emitted by male sperm whales in the Mediterranean Sea

Sperm whale trumpets are sounds only occasionally documented, with a well recognisable and stereotyped acoustic arrangement. This study investigated the acoustic features of the trumpets and the context in which these sounds were recorded, using acoustic data collected over 22 years, in the Pelagos Sanctuary area (North-Western Mediterranean Sea). Analysed trumpets (n = 230), recorded at the beginning of a dive after the whale fluke-up, comprised a series of acoustic units organized in short sequences. Acoustic parameters were derived for the entire trumpet and for each distinguishable unit in a trumpet. Overall, trumpet durations and their initial frequencies were higher in recordings collected when multiple whales were visually or acoustically detected in the observation area. The identity of 68 whales was assessed through photo-identification, with 29 individuals producing trumpets within and between years. The variability of the acoustic parameters appeared to be higher within the same individuals rather than between different individuals, suggesting an individual plasticity in composing and arranging units in a trumpet. Different click patterns were observed before and after the trumpets, with more complex sequences when (1) other whales were visually/acoustically detected, and (2) individuals were in suitable foraging sites (i.e., canyon areas). Trumpets were commonly followed or preceded by click patterns suited for communication, such as codas and/or slow clicks. Significant relations between the trumpet emission and the male-only long-range communication click pattern (i.e. slow clicks) emerged, supporting the hypothesis that a trumpet is a sound emitted by maturing/mature males in feeding grounds. This study provides the first evidence that trumpets were conserved in the sperm whale acoustic repertoire at the decadal timescale, persisting across years and individuals in the same area. This persistence may be functionally specific to foraging activities performed by males in a well-established feeding area

NUOVE NORME PER LA MITIGAZIONE E LO STUDIO DELL’IMPATTO DEGLI AIRGUN SUI MAMMIFERI MARINI

Lo studio dell'impatto dei survey sismici in mare sui mammiferi marini è ancora frammentario e incompleto, mancando un’osservazione degli effetti a lungo termine sulle popolazioni. Nel 2015 l’Italia ha introdotto l’obbligo di condurre survey di studio acustico e visivo sui mammiferi marini presenti nell'area di prospezione almeno per 60 giorni antecedenti la stessa, e per altrettanti 60 giorni successivi alla stessa. I dati raccolti contribuiranno a colmare il gap conoscitivo e a perfezionare i protocolli operativi finalizzati alla protezione dei mammiferi marini

Sistemi automatici di registrazione: nuove metodologie bioacustiche applicate a indagini ornitologiche in alcuni siti della Rete Natura 2000 del Veneto. Risultati e prospettive.

Il lavoro illustra i risultati di un progetto di monitoraggio acustico delle specie ornitologiche presenti in alcuni siti della Rete Natura 2000 del Veneto. Si descrive la metodologia impiegata, basata su registratori automatici programmabili e sull'analisi spettrografica delle registrazioni risultanti. Il progetto e' stato realizzato in collaborazione con il Corpo Forestale dello Stato

Short Term and Long Term Bioacoustic Monitoring of the Marine Environment. Results from NEMO ONDE Experiment and Way Ahead.

The INFN NEMO-OνDE (Ocean Noise Detection Experiment) station, deployed on the seafloor at 2000 m depth 25 km offshore Catania (Sicily, Italy) in year 2005, was designed to continuously transmit broad-band acoustic data through optical cables to the INFN lab located in the port of Catania. It was operational until November 2006, when it was replaced by other experimental equipment. During the operational period, 5 minutes of recording (4 hydrophones, 45 kHz bandwidth, 96 kHz sampling rate at 24 bits resolution) were taken every hour. The experiment provided long-term data on the underwater noise and an unique opportunity to study the acoustic emissions of marine mammals living in, or transiting through the area east of Sicily. The recordings revealed a more frequent and consistent presence of sperm whales than previously believed