Some of the world’s most magnificent coral reef ecosystems are in the Caribbean. These reefs are home to a rich, noisy sealife bounty, including grunts, croaks, and purrs from fish species and the cracking of snapping shrimp. Unfortunately, over the last few decades, local and global stressors have led to a quiet decline in the number of Caribbean coral reefs.
Coral larvae use sound cues to find the best places to settle and grow. The sounds of a healthy reef can potentially encourage coral larvae to recolonize damaged reefs at significantly higher rates, as revealed by a study conducted by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, MA, USA.
“What we’re showing is that you can actively induce coral settlement by playing sounds,” says Nadège Aoki, a doctoral candidate at WHOI. “You can go to a reef that is degraded in some way and add in the sounds of biological activity from a healthy reef, potentially helping this important step in the coral life cycle.”
The researchers conducted their work in the U.S. Virgin Islands, running the same experiment twice in June and July 2022. The best result happened at Salt Pond Bay, in St. John’s Virgin Islands National Park, a site with sparse coral cover. Results revealed the highest settlement rates for coral larvae happened within 15 feet of the speakers.
Does this mean you need to take your Walkman when snorkeling? No. This soundtrack and the equipment to play the tunes underwater are still best left to scientists. However, duplicating the acoustic environment of a reef is much simpler, scalable, and cost-effective than replicating a reef’s chemical and microbial signals, which also play a role in how corals choose a home. Therefore, the rhythm of the ocean may indeed be the latest tool in the toolbox for potentially rebuilding a coral reef.
For more information, visit Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
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