Organizers: Steve Simpson1, Frédéric Bertucci2,3, Craig Radford4 & Miles Parsons5
Affiliations: 1/ University of Exeter, United Kingdom; 2/ Université de Liège, Belgium; 3/ CRIOBE – USR 3278 CNRS EPHE UPVD, PSL, Labex Corail, Moorea, French Polynesia; 4/ University of Auckland, New Zealand; 5/ Curtin University, Australia
Lead contact: Steve Simpson
Description: Fish use sound to communicate, assess mates, find food, avoid predators and select habitat. The rich diversity of vocal repertoires and behaviours that are mediated by acoustic cues and signals is now a focus for many research groups around the world. Since much underwater sound comes from biological sources (mammals, fishes and invertebrates), natural soundscapes convey important information to animals. Underwater acoustics also offers novel tools for environmental monitoring, rapid habitat surveys, and census of fishes in dark, deep or turbid environments. While we are only just discovering the importance of sound for fishes and other aquatic animals, human (anthropogenic) noise presents novel challenges through physical damage, stress, distraction, masking and spatial displacement. This session invites talks and posters on all of these topics.
Expected Audience: This topic will appeal to an international audience of fish ecologists, sensory ecologists, bioacousticians, behavioral ecologists, dispersal modellers, environmental monitoring teams, anthropogenic noise impact researchers, technologists and marine managers.