Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/I024682/1
Do seals use noise as a source of information?
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor V Janik, University of St Andrews, Biology
- Grant held at:
- University of St Andrews, Biology
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- Noise is a problem whenever animals collect information from their environment. It can affect them in many negative ways. These include whale strandings in response to Navy sonars, hearing damage, increased stress and the avoidance of areas they would otherwise use. Communication sounds can also be affected by noise when they become less obvious in a noisy environment. While many studies have addressed the question of how animals communicate with each other, we still know relatively little about how they use other sounds they hear. Some work has reported that predators use movement sounds of their prey to locate and catch it. Since many animals can learn about sounds they may use them in even more ways to gather information about their environment. For example, a waterfall may be used as an acoustic landmark to find a foraging site or reflection of ambient noise may be used to detect an object in darkness. These possibilities suggest that there is another side to noise, a positive one that can be used by animals for orientation. The project proposed here will investigate this positive side of noise in seals. Sound travels better in water than in air, while visibility is often low. Thus, positive effects of noise are easier to study in this environment. The first part of the project will investigate whether seals can use noise that is reflected or blocked by objects to detect the objects themselves. If so, an increased noise level may make objects more detectable to seals. For this, we will train blind-folded seals to report when they detect an object that is presented to them in front of an underwater speaker. We will investigate at what distances the seal is able to detect an object in this way, how loud the noise needs to be and whether the noise needs to come from a particular directions to maximise detection. In the second experiment we want to find out whether seals will spontaneously learn to associate a novel sound source with a specific geographic location. For this, we will install such a noise source near a seal haul-out site and then test how seals from that site react to this noise when the are taken to another location. Will they approach the noise source when searching for their haul-out site, even if it has been moved to another location? Finally, we want to know whether seals in the wild learn about sounds produced by humans when looking for food. Many fish farms use acoustic devices that are supposed to keep seals away. However, many reports suggest that these sounds might attract seals just like a dinner bell. We will install an underwater speaker near a fish farm to see whether the seals are more likely to approach when we play the sounds used on the farm as compared to other control noises. Still looking at foraging, we will also provide captive seals with various sand trays with buried fish, some of which also have fish tags in them that make a sound. These tags are widely used to track fish in the wild. We want to know whether seals learn to associate the audible ping with the food in the tray, so that after a while they seek out trays with fish tags. Taken together, these studies will inform us about how seals use noise in their environment in a way that might help them rather than disturb them. While the negative effects of noise most likely outweigh any positive sides, it is still important to know both sides of the story. If seals can use ambient noise detect objects, collisions with marine turbines and engines might be less likely than we think. Similarly, the effects of noises that we introduce are important to understand. If we remove an acoustic landmark that we have provided by installing a turbine or other machinery, this might affect animals. Similarly, sounds that we use to track fish or keep seals away may have an attraction effect, which leads to undesirable results for the people using them.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/I024682/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grant (FEC)
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £365,842
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DI - Staff | DA - Estate Costs | DA - Other Directly Allocated | DI - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £43,051 | £131,417 | £30,127 | £113,572 | £40,206 | £793 | £6,676 |
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