![]() Noise pollution is killing whales, but this technology could help Their success rate dropped from 85% to 62.5% from the lowest to highest levels of noise. As the underwater noise increased, made louder and longer sounds, and changed their body language to face each other.īut the more important finding, according to Sørensen, was that despite using their attempts to compensate for the noise pollution, the dolphins were still less successful at completing the task. First, they found that the dolphins used “compensatory mechanisms” to make up for their hindered vocal communication. The findings were twofold, said Sørensen. A total of 200 trials were conducted with the dolphin pair, with each dolphin wearing an acoustic tag that recorded its sound production. The dolphins were asked to perform the task both under ambient noise conditions and under four “noise treatments” meant to simulate human-made underwater noise pollution. ![]() The dolphins had a mission: They needed to each press an underwater button at the same time. To understand how noise pollution affects dolphins’ ability to cooperate, the scientists worked with two specific dolphins named Delta and Reese living at the Dolphin Research Center in Florida. And sound communication is particularly crucial for underwater animals because beneath the water’s surface, “sound travels very far and very fast,” said Sørensen.Īdditionally, dolphins have a “wide vocal repertoire” that they employ “for basically all aspects of their lives, including for coordinating cooperative behaviors.” The researchers honed in on dolphins because the aquatic animals are highly social and intelligent, using whistles to communicate with each other and clicks to echolocate and hunt. The constant din of noises from ship engines and military sonar makes it difficult for marine mammals to communicate with each other and has been linked to increasing collisions between whales and ships. Previous studies have documented the damaging impact that noise pollution can have on other aquatic mammals, like whales. ![]() The first-ever vaccine for honeybees has been approved by the USDA The USDA has offered the first conditional license for a vaccine for honeybees, intended to protect hives against American Foulbrood disease. ![]()
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