title: Anthropogenic sources of underwater sound can modify how sediment-dwelling invertebrates mediate ecosystem properties.
abstract: Coastal and shelf environments support high levels of biodiversity that are vital in mediating ecosystem processes, but they are also subject to noise associated with mounting levels of offshore human activity. This has the potential to alter the way in which species interact with their environment, compromising the mediation of important ecosystem properties. Here, we show that exposure to underwater broadband sound fields that resemble offshore shipping and construction activity can alter sediment-dwelling invertebrate contributions to fluid and particle transport--key processes in mediating benthic nutrient cycling. Despite high levels of intra-specific variability in physiological response, we find that changes in the behaviour of some functionally important species can be dependent on the class of broadband sound (continuous or impulsive). Our study provides evidence that exposing coastal environments to anthropogenic sound fields is likely to have much wider ecosystem consequences than are presently acknowledged.
authors: Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Solan
authors: Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH.
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Hauton
authors: Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH.|Centre for Biological Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, Southampton, SO17 1BJ.
authors: Jasmin A
authors: JA
authors: Godbold
authors: Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH.
authors: Christina L
authors: CL
authors: Wood
authors: Institute of Sound &Vibration Research, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ.
authors: Timothy G
authors: TG
authors: Leighton
authors: Institute of Sound &Vibration Research, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ.
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: White
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D007448:Invertebrates; D013016:Sound