Researchers find a new tool in coral reef restoration: underwater speakers
Coral reefs are surprisingly noisy places, but when they are degraded, they become "ghostly quiet." The lack of noise deters fish populations from settling in the dying reef, scientists say, further contributing to the decline.
In an effort to return life to the many reefs ravaged by climate change, researchers from the U.K. and Australia installed underwater speakers in a section of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. They projected the sounds of a healthy reef into a dying one, and diverse fish species from across the food chain flocked to the noise.
The study was led by Tim Gordon, a marine biologist at University of Exeter, and was published late November in Nature Communications. It concluded that ailing reefs fitted with speakers had twice as many fish as compared to dying reefs where no sounds were played. But the fish are just one part of the restoration, says fish biologist Mark Meekan.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Of course, attracting fish to a dead reef won't bring it back to life automatically, but recovery is underpinned by fish that clean the reef and create space for corals to regrow," Meekan says.
"Acoustic enrichment," as the researchers are calling the method, combined with habitat restoration and conservation measures, could help accelerate the ecosystem and restore coral reefs.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Taylor Watson is audience engagement editor for TheWeek.com and a former editorial assistant. She graduated from Syracuse University, with a major in magazine journalism and minors in food studies and nutrition. Taylor has previously written for Runner's World, Vice, and more.
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published