North Carolina State University College of Sciences Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Science Marine Ecology & Conservation Lab PI: Dr. David Eggleston

Sounds of the Sound: Underwater Soundscapes of NC Estuarine Habitats Shannon W. Ricci, Olivia Caretti, R. Patrick Lyon, David B. Eggleston, DelWayne R. Bohnenstiehl

What is a soundscape?

physical biological anthropogenic

A soundscape is the collection of physical, biological, and anthropogenic sources

sounds in an environment or area

Terrestrial soundscapes have been well studied; however we do not know what most

marine habitats sound like. Our marine soundscape research aims to answer:

1.  Which animals are producing sound? 2.  When & where are they producing sound? 3.  Why are they producing sound?

These questions will inform our research goal:

Can soundscapes be used to assess habitat quality and biodiversity in marine systems?

Key Concepts & Research Questions

Current Research

Animals use and produce sound for a variety of reasons including communication, navigation, defense, mate-finding and more!

Figure 5B, Lillis et al 2014

Can animals use sound to find suitable habitat?

reef off-reef

Soundscapes are habitat specific Oyster larvae respond to reef-associated sounds

How do soundscapes change over time?

% o

f rec

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Low frequency, fish-associated sounds are loudest at night

Fish chorusing occurs predominately at night, and drives the nightly peak in the low frequency soundscape.

Date (M/DD/2014)!

What do different animals sound like?

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Silver Perch (Bairdiella chrysoura)

Oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau)

Snapping shrimp (Alpheus sp.)

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Visit our websites! https://cmast.ncsu.edu/eggleston

https://cmast.ncsu.edu/soundscapes

Follow us on Twitter! Eggleston Lab: @EgglestonLab

Shannon Ricci: @shannonwhitneyb Olivia Caretti:@OCaretti

Pat Lyon: @rpatlyon Dr. Del Bohnenstiehl: @drbohnen

PamlicoSound,NC

AbacoIsland,Bahamas

?

Habitat surveys with an unmanned

surface vehicle

Future Work

Sampling biological

communities

Collecting soundscape

information with hydrophones

Where to next?

Pamlico Sound, NC: Tracking development of soundscapes on new cultch oyster reefs Abaco, Bahamas: Coral reef soundscape characteristics

Can soundscapes be used to assess habitat quality and biodiversity in marine systems?

Methods 1.  Combine habitat, biological, and soundscape data 2.  Rigorously assess existing soundscape metrics

from terrestrial systems in marine systems.