MIT-WHOI Joint Program Student Max Kaplan scuba diving over a coral reef in the Virgin Islands. (Photo by T. Aran Mooney, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
WOODS HOLE – A new study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution may help researchers understand how marine larvae use sound as a signal to settle on coral reefs.
Lead author of the study, published last week in Scientific Reports, Max Kaplan says to keep a healthy reef you need a constant supply of larvae and that sound may play a role in attracting them.
The study has determined that sounds created by fish and invertebrates may not travel far enough for larvae hatched in the open ocean to hear them.
Researchers traveled to Maui to make acoustic measurements of a healthy reef system and recorded two different components of sound.
They measured pressure waves, the element of sound that pushes on a human eardrum, and particle motion, the vibration of the water column as a sound wave travels through it. The latter is how the majority of marine species detect sound.
Particle motion was recorded up to 1500 meters away from the reef and data collected found the levels were much lower than expected and dropped below levels most species can sense.
Kaplan says it’s possible the larvae use chemical signals from other animals to locate the reef, but still use sound to find suitable locations to settle in the reef.
Researchers believe sound could be used in conservation efforts to direct larvae to damaged reef areas.
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