Ground-truthing daily and lunar patterns of coral reef fish call rates on a US Virgin Island reef
Coral reefs comprise some of the most biodiverse habitats on the planet. These ecosystems face a range of stressors, making quantifying community assemblages and potential changes vital to effective management. To understand short- and long-term changes in biodiversity and detect early warning signa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Inter-Research
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Aquatic Biology |
| Online Access: | https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/ab/v31/p77-87/ |
| _version_ | 1811211113982853120 |
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| author | SR Ferguson FH Jensen MD Hyer A Noble A Apprill TA Mooney |
| author_facet | SR Ferguson FH Jensen MD Hyer A Noble A Apprill TA Mooney |
| author_sort | SR Ferguson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Coral reefs comprise some of the most biodiverse habitats on the planet. These ecosystems face a range of stressors, making quantifying community assemblages and potential changes vital to effective management. To understand short- and long-term changes in biodiversity and detect early warning signals of decline, new methods for quantifying biodiversity at scale are necessary. Acoustic monitoring techniques have proven useful in observing species activities and biodiversity on coral reefs through aggregate approaches (i.e. energy as a proxy). However, few studies have ground-truthed these acoustic analyses with human-based observations. In this study, we sought to expand these passive acoustic methods by investigating biological sounds and fish call rates on a healthy reef, providing a unique set of human-confirmed, labeled acoustic observations. We analyzed acoustic data from Tektite Reef, St. John, US Virgin Islands, over a 2 mo period. A subset of acoustic files was manually inspected to identify recurring biotic sounds and quantify reef activity throughout the day. We found a high variety of acoustic signals in this soundscape. General patterns of call rates across time conformed to expectations, with dusk and dawn showing important and significantly elevated peaks in soniferous fish activity. The data reflected high variability in call rates across days and lunar phases. Call rates did not correspond to sound pressure levels, suggesting that certain call types may drive crepuscular trends in sound levels while lower-level critical calls, likely key for estimating biodiversity and behavior, may be missed by gross sound level analyses. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T05:07:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a35fbbd378e0419bbfd981aeec34ddf0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1864-7782 1864-7790 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T05:07:11Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Inter-Research |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Aquatic Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-a35fbbd378e0419bbfd981aeec34ddf02022-12-22T03:46:50ZengInter-ResearchAquatic Biology1864-77821864-77902022-07-0131778710.3354/ab00755Ground-truthing daily and lunar patterns of coral reef fish call rates on a US Virgin Island reefSR Ferguson0FH Jensen1MD Hyer2A Noble3A Apprill4TA Mooney5Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33149, USABiology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USAMiddlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753, USADepartment of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USAMarine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USABiology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USACoral reefs comprise some of the most biodiverse habitats on the planet. These ecosystems face a range of stressors, making quantifying community assemblages and potential changes vital to effective management. To understand short- and long-term changes in biodiversity and detect early warning signals of decline, new methods for quantifying biodiversity at scale are necessary. Acoustic monitoring techniques have proven useful in observing species activities and biodiversity on coral reefs through aggregate approaches (i.e. energy as a proxy). However, few studies have ground-truthed these acoustic analyses with human-based observations. In this study, we sought to expand these passive acoustic methods by investigating biological sounds and fish call rates on a healthy reef, providing a unique set of human-confirmed, labeled acoustic observations. We analyzed acoustic data from Tektite Reef, St. John, US Virgin Islands, over a 2 mo period. A subset of acoustic files was manually inspected to identify recurring biotic sounds and quantify reef activity throughout the day. We found a high variety of acoustic signals in this soundscape. General patterns of call rates across time conformed to expectations, with dusk and dawn showing important and significantly elevated peaks in soniferous fish activity. The data reflected high variability in call rates across days and lunar phases. Call rates did not correspond to sound pressure levels, suggesting that certain call types may drive crepuscular trends in sound levels while lower-level critical calls, likely key for estimating biodiversity and behavior, may be missed by gross sound level analyses.https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/ab/v31/p77-87/ |
| spellingShingle | SR Ferguson FH Jensen MD Hyer A Noble A Apprill TA Mooney Ground-truthing daily and lunar patterns of coral reef fish call rates on a US Virgin Island reef Aquatic Biology |
| title | Ground-truthing daily and lunar patterns of coral reef fish call rates on a US Virgin Island reef |
| title_full | Ground-truthing daily and lunar patterns of coral reef fish call rates on a US Virgin Island reef |
| title_fullStr | Ground-truthing daily and lunar patterns of coral reef fish call rates on a US Virgin Island reef |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ground-truthing daily and lunar patterns of coral reef fish call rates on a US Virgin Island reef |
| title_short | Ground-truthing daily and lunar patterns of coral reef fish call rates on a US Virgin Island reef |
| title_sort | ground truthing daily and lunar patterns of coral reef fish call rates on a us virgin island reef |
| url | https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/ab/v31/p77-87/ |
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