Underwater loudspeakers can help restore coral reef
- by Jake Bell
- in Research
- — Dec 2, 2019
But coral reef healing is underpinned by fish that clean the reef and create space for corals to regrow, he said.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef is suffering from the impacts of warming water temperatures, overfishing and pollution.
Different groups of fish provide different functions on coral reefs, meaning an abundant and diverse fish population is an important factor in maintaining a healthy ecosystem.
The study found that twice as many fish came to the dead patches, where the loudspeakers were placed.
'Fish are essential for coral reefs to perform as wholesome ecosystems, ' mentioned Mr Gordon.
The new technique works by reproducing the sounds that are lost when the reefs are calmed by the degradation, the researchers explained.
Playing underwater sounds of a healthy coral reef can attract fish back to degraded and damaged areas.
More news: At least 14 dead in Mexico gunbattle near Texas borderAiling coral reefs, on the other hand, become "ghostly quiet" as the various creatures that make up their ecosystems perish or depart.
Working on Australia's recently devastated Great Barrier Reef, the global research team from the Universities of Exeter and Bristol, Australia's James Cook University, and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, placed loudspeakers underwater playing healthy reef recordings in patches of dead coral. It also had the effect of increasing the number of species present by 50 per cent. So, the researchers reasoned, giving younger fish some aural encouragement could bring them back to these dead reefs.
Healthy reefs, said Gordon, are bustling places.
Reefs offer a home to a plethora of fish species, some of which play roles including cleaning the reef and recycling nutrients.
'Acoustic enrichment is a promising technique for management on a local basis, ' said.
"If combined with habitat restoration and other conservation measures, rebuilding fish communities in this manner might accelerate ecosystem recovery".
University of Exeter marine biology doctoral student Tim Gordon sets up a loudspeaker on a coral reef. Other researchers are investigating everything from 3D-printed coral to lab-grown hybrid coral that might be able to withstand the changing underwater climate.
More news: Stunningly stupid act makes it a rotten Egg Bowl for Ole MissGordon said new techniques like this give us more tools in the fight to save these precious and vulnerable ecosystems while attracting more fish won't save coral reefs on its own.
'From native administration improvements to worldwide political motion, we'd like significant progress in any respect ranges to color a greater future for reefs worldwide'.
The study was published and can be read in full on the journal Nature Communications.
"Here, using a six-week field experiment, we demonstrate that playback of healthy reef sound can increase fish settlement and retention to degraded habitat".
Corals have a symbiotic relationship with a tiny marine algae known as "zooxanthellae" that stay inside and nourish them. The lack of the algae causes them to bleach and switch white.
Severe coral bleaching attributable to uncouth warmth waves killed off 50 p.c of the Substantial Barrier Reef, the planet's largest coral reef, in 2016 and 2017.
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