Impact of anthropogenic sounds on coral reef health and sessile invertebrates

The impact of anthropogenic sound on marine organisms is an emerging area of concern given the increasing levels human based oceanic activity. Effects of noise on marine mammals and to a lesser extent fish have been the focus of previous studies; however, the impacts on benthic invertebrates are less understood. Altered fish and other taxa behavior due to anthropogenic noise may disturb benthic coral reef organism health and larval settlement may be disrupted. We investigated the responses of a reef-building, scleractinian coral (Montipora capitata), a soft coral (Palythoa mutuki), and a tube worm (Sabellastarte spectabilis) to specific anthropogenic sounds. Coral fragments groups of M. Capitate were exposed individual and also combination sounds (1, 10, and 50 kHz) over 3-to 5-min intervals over a month long period. P.mutuki and S. spectabilis were exposed to 15, 50, 75, and 100 kHz frequency sounds with respect to their tentacle retraction response. Quantification with respect to growth and mortality has indicated limited impact, and these results may be interpreted in terms of the diurnal ambient noise background levels.