Acoustic Enrichment
Coral reefs are at a significant threat of extinction due to climate change associated factors. When reefs show signs of degradation they become less populated as they cannot offer the same benefits to other species as once before. This furthers the decline in their health as reefs and fish have a symbiotic relationship with one another, meaning that they both provide benefits to one another. To try to combat this issue, Gordon et al. (2019) did a study to determine if sounds of a healthy coral reef correlated to fish population abundance. They used loudspeakers and projected sounds of an active reef during the natural recruitment season on experimental coral-rubble patch reefs for 40 days. Dummy loudspeakers were also placed to test the effect of visual cues of the speakers. Their results showed a significant increase in a variety of fish populations with a 50% greater species richness and an overall higher abundance of juvenile fish compared to the dummy-loudspeaker reefs. There were also no noticeable declines in abundance overtime, meaning that despite predation, populations remained stable. This suggests that ongoing recruitment was at a high enough rate to compensate for fish lost to predation. Acoustic enrichment proves to be an effective way to contribute to the restoration of coral reef ecosystems.
Still curious and want to learn more? Visit https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-13186-2