Waveform visualizations of sound production of three species described by one of the project collaborators, Amalis Riera, during the work of Riera et al., 2018 and Riera et al., 2020.
Scientists have developed an extensive inventory of underwater speciesA species is a group of living organisms that share a set of common characteristics and are able to breed and produce fertile offspring. The concept of a species is important in biology as it is used to classify and organize the diversity of life. There are different ways to define a species, but the most widely accepted one is the biological species concept, which defines a species as a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce viable offspring in nature. This definition is widely used in evolutionary biology and ecology to identify and classify living organisms.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>species known or suspected to produce sound. This groundbreaking work documents over 22,000 species, challenging the notion that aquatic life is predominantly silent and significantly advancing marine and aquatic sciences.
Scientists looking to uncover the mysteries of the underwater world have more valuable information at their fingertips thanks to an international team that has produced an inventory of species confirmed or expected to produce sound underwater.
Led by Audrey Looby from the University of FloridaEstablished in 1853, the University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is home to 16 academic colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes. University of Florida offers multiple graduate professional programs, including business administration, engineering, law, dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine, and administers 123 master's degree programs and 76 doctoral degree programs in eighty-seven schools and departments.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>University of Florida Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, the Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds working group collaborated with the World Register of Marine Species to document 729 aquatic mammals, other tetrapodsTetrapods are four-limbed (with a few exceptions, such as snakes) vertebrates constituting the superclass Tetrapoda that includes living and extinct amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. They evolved from a group of animals known as the Tetrapodomorpha which, in turn, evolved from ancient lobe-finned fishes (Sarcopterygii) around 390 million years ago in the middle Devonian period.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>tetrapods, fishes, and invertebratesInvertebrates are animals that do not have a backbone. They make up the majority of the animal kingdom and include animals such as insects, worms, mollusks, and arachnids. Invertebrates are found in almost every habitat on Earth, from the depths of the oceans to the highest mountains. They play important roles in the ecosystem as decomposers, pollinators, and as a food source for other animals. Invertebrates have a wide range of body shapes, sizes, and behaviors, and they have evolved a variety of ways to survive and thrive in their environments.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>invertebrates that produce active or passive sounds. In addition, the inventory includes another 21,911 species that are considered to likely produce sounds.
Video of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus; named for their characteristic drumming sounds produced during reproductive behavior) in the Discovery Room of the Nature Coast Biological Station.
With more than 70% of the Earth’s surface covered in water, most of the planet’s habitats are aquatic, and there is a misconception that most aquatic organisms are silent. The newly published comprehensive digital database on what animals are known to make sounds is the first of its kind and can revolutionize marine and aquatic science, the researchers said.
Video of fish auditioning in a tank environment. Credit: Amalis Riera
“Eavesdropping on underwater sounds can reveal a plethora of information about the species that produce them and is useful for a variety of applications, ranging from fisheries management, invasive species detection, improved restoration outcomes, and assessing human environmental impacts,” said Looby, who also co-created FishSounds, which offers a comprehensive, global inventory of fish sound production research.
A nest-building Plainfin Midshipman filmed by Mackenzie Woods while conducting her thesis research in Washington.
The team’s research, “Global Inventory of Species Categorized by Known Underwater Sonifery,” will be published today (December 18) in the journal Scientific Data and involved 19 authors from six countries, funding from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation and centuries of scientific effort to document underwater sounds.
A nest-building Plainfin Midshipman filmed by Mackenzie Woods while conducting her thesis research in Washington.
“Understanding how marine species interact with their environments is of global importance, and this data being freely available is a major step toward that goal,” said Kieran Cox, a member of the research team and a National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada fellow.
Video with sounds of Amazon River Dolphin, Inia geoffrensis, recorded in the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, Peru during the work of Rountree et al. 2022.
Most people are familiar with whale or dolphin sounds but are often surprised to learn that many fishes and invertebrates use sounds to communicate, too, Looby said.
“Our dataset helps demonstrate how widespread underwater sound production really is across a variety of animals, but also that we still have a lot to learn,” she said.
Reference: “Global Inventory of Species Categorized by Known Underwater Sonifery” 18 December 2023, Scientific Data.
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02745-4
Source: SciTechDaily
