Healthy and unhealthy soundscapes in cold-water coral reefs

AmpLOPHELIA assesses the health and biodiversity of cold-water coral (CWC) reefs ecosystems using passive acoustic recordings. Lophelia pertusa (aka Desmophyllum pertusum), the dominant framework forming CWC in the North Atlantic, is widely recognised as both functionally important and threatened by fisheries, ocean warming and acidification. Acoustic landscapes, or soundscapes, are composed of biological, geophysical and anthropogenic sounds, and in some environments, such as tropical coral reefs, biological components dominate the soundscape.

Here, we used passive acoustics as a novel method for long-term in-situ CWC health assessments, by comparing the diversity and soundscapes of two reefs in the Skagerrak, the healthy Tisler Reef with the unhealthy Säcken reef using acoustic recordings and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) video surveys. This project provides insights in both spatial and temporal changes of a CWC reefs’ Good Environmental Status (GES) and their associated biodiversity by examining the effectiveness of biodiversity assessments using acoustic and video monitoring.

TEAM

PIs: Dr Laurence De Clippele

Co-Is: Dr Denise Rish

FUNDING

AssemblePlus

PUBLICATIONS

De Clippele, L.H. and Risch, D., 2021. Measuring sound at a cold-water coral reef to assess the impact of COVID-19 on noise pollution. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, p.674702.