TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of airgun discharges used in seismic surveys on development and mortality in nauplii of the copepod Acartia tonsa
AU - Vereide, Emilie Hernes
AU - Mihaljevic, Marina
AU - Browman, Howard I.
AU - Fields, David M.
AU - Agersted, Mette Dalgaard
AU - Titelman, Josefin
AU - de Jong, Karen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/6/15
Y1 - 2023/6/15
N2 - Seismic surveys are conducted worldwide to explore for oil and gas deposits and to map subsea formations. The airguns used in these surveys emit low-frequency sound waves. Studies on zooplankton responses to airguns report a range of effects, from none to substantial mortality. A field experiment was conducted to assess mortality and naupliar body length of the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa when exposed to the discharge of two 40-inch airguns. Nauplii were placed in plastic bags and attached to a line at a depth of 6 m. For each treatment, three bags of nauplii were exposed to one of three treatments for 2.5 h: Airgun array discharge, a boat control, or a silent control. After exposure, nauplii were kept in filtered seawater in the laboratory without food. Immediate mortality in the nauplii was approximately 14% compared to less than 4% in the silent and boat control. Similarly, there was higher mortality in the airgun exposed nauplii up to six days after exposure compared to the control treatments. Nearly all of the airgun exposed nauplii were dead after four days, while >50% of the nauplii in the control treatments were alive at six days post-exposure. There was an interaction between treatment and time on naupliar body length, indicating lower growth in the nauplii exposed to the airgun discharge (growth rates after 4 days: 1.7, 5.4, and 6.1 μm d−1 in the airgun exposed, silent control, and boat control, respectively). These experiments indicate that the output of two small airguns affected mortality and growth of the naupliar stages of Acartia tonsa in close vicinity to the array.
AB - Seismic surveys are conducted worldwide to explore for oil and gas deposits and to map subsea formations. The airguns used in these surveys emit low-frequency sound waves. Studies on zooplankton responses to airguns report a range of effects, from none to substantial mortality. A field experiment was conducted to assess mortality and naupliar body length of the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa when exposed to the discharge of two 40-inch airguns. Nauplii were placed in plastic bags and attached to a line at a depth of 6 m. For each treatment, three bags of nauplii were exposed to one of three treatments for 2.5 h: Airgun array discharge, a boat control, or a silent control. After exposure, nauplii were kept in filtered seawater in the laboratory without food. Immediate mortality in the nauplii was approximately 14% compared to less than 4% in the silent and boat control. Similarly, there was higher mortality in the airgun exposed nauplii up to six days after exposure compared to the control treatments. Nearly all of the airgun exposed nauplii were dead after four days, while >50% of the nauplii in the control treatments were alive at six days post-exposure. There was an interaction between treatment and time on naupliar body length, indicating lower growth in the nauplii exposed to the airgun discharge (growth rates after 4 days: 1.7, 5.4, and 6.1 μm d−1 in the airgun exposed, silent control, and boat control, respectively). These experiments indicate that the output of two small airguns affected mortality and growth of the naupliar stages of Acartia tonsa in close vicinity to the array.
KW - Acartia
KW - Anthropogenic noise
KW - Copepods
KW - Noise pollution
KW - Seismic surveys
KW - Zooplankton
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151267473&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121469
DO - 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121469
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36963455
AN - SCOPUS:85151267473
SN - 0269-7491
VL - 327
JO - Environmental Pollution
JF - Environmental Pollution
M1 - 121469
ER -