Simpson, Stephen D., Radford, Andrew N., Holles, Sophie , Ferrari, Maud C.O., Chivers, Douglas P., McCormick, Mark I., and Meekan, Mark G. (2016) Small-boat noise impacts natural settlement behavior of coral reef fish larvae. In: Popper, Arthur N. , and Hawkins, Anthony, (eds.) The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life II. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 875 . Springer, New York, NY, USA, pp. 1041-1048.

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Abstract

After a pelagic larval phase, settlement-stage coral reef fi sh must locate a suitable reef habitat for juvenile life. Reef noise, produced by resident fi sh and invertebrates, provides an important cue for orientation and habitat selection during this process, which must often occur in environments impacted by anthropogenic noise. We adapted an established fi eld-based protocol to test whether recorded boat noise infl uenced the settlement behavior of reef fi sh. Fewer fi sh settled to patch reefs broadcasting boat + reef noise compared with reef noise alone. This study suggests that boat noise, now a common feature of many reefs, can compromise critical settlement behavior of reef fi shes.

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