Noise
exposure is considered a threat to human health, causing not only annoyance or
hearing impairment but also hypertension and diabetes. Like humans, many
animals do hear and can be affected by noise. Although there is sufficient
scientific evidence that noise exposure
can threaten biodiversity, this environmental risk has only recently gained
attention among resource managers and policy makers.
Because
sound travels faster and over longer distances in water than in air, underwater
sounds emitted by boat engines, sonars, pile drivers, seismic testing or
windfarms can be particularly problematic for marine organisms. Most of our
knowledge concerning the impact of underwater noise pollution (UNP) for
wildlife is restricted to sea mammals and fish, and typically includes
communication signal modifications and decreases in site occupancy at noisy
locations. However, responses to noise pollution can be less obvious,
especially considering that less motile animals such as most invertebrates
cannot flee away from the disturbance and can be exposed to UNP over long
periods of time. As more attention and resources are invested in understanding
the full ecological and economic impacts of UNP, it has become necessary to
explore the many possible risks associated with noise exposure.
In
particular, stress responses triggered by human-induced environmental changes
are expected to cause disease by intensifying the effects of parasites. In
accord to this, UNP is predicted to
alter the health of marine invertebrates in three ways: (1) stressed hosts are typically in
poor condition and may be more susceptible to infections; (2) stress may increase the impact of parasitism on hosts; (3) the combined effects of stress and
parasitism may affect species interactions, e.g. by increasing predation on
infected/weakened hosts. Given that parasites are also exposed to the
disturbance, UNP could influence parasite traits as well, including infectivity
and survival.
The
“SICK OF NOISE” project is a H2020
funded project (Marie Skłodowska Curie Action Individual Fellowship, GA
n°750429) that will assess the effects of UNP on parasitism and predatory
interactions of key marine invertebrates: the blue mussel Mytilus edulis and the shore crab Carcinus maenas. By the use of multidisciplinary experimental
approaches, this project aims to (1)
identify behavioural and physiological stress responses of molluscs and
crustaceans exposed to UNP, (2) investigate
for the first time connections between UNP and parasitic disease, and (3) conduct a pioneer work on the
influence of UNP on parasite-mediated species interactions.
From
July 2018, I will be based at the Dutch
Royal Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) in the Ecological Parasitology
Group led by Dr. David W. T. Thieltges.
To successfully conduct this postdoctoral research, I will rely on
collaborations with other top-ranked researchers, namely Dr. Slaabekoorn (University of Leiden), Dr. Wegner (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar Research) and Dr. Whitbaard (NIOZ).
Collecting periwinkles from the Wadden Sea (copyrights: James Campbell)
