Data from Motorboat noise impacts parental behaviour and offspring survival in a reef fish

Anthropogenic noise is a pollutant of international concern, with mounting evidence of disturbance and impacts on animal behaviour and physiology. However, empirical studies measuring survival consequences are rare. We use a field experiment to investigate how repeated motorboat-noise playback affects parental behaviour and offspring survival in the spiny chromis (<i>Acanthochromis polyacanthus</i>), a brooding coral reef fish. Repeated observations were made for 12 days at 38 natural nests with broods of young. Exposure to motorboat-noise playback compared to ambient-sound playback increased defensive acts, and reduced both feeding and offspring interactions by brood-guarding males. Anthropogenic noise did not affect the growth of developing offspring, but reduced the likelihood of offspring survival; while offspring survived at all 19 nests exposed to ambient-sound playback, six of the 19 nests exposed to motorboat-noise playback suffered complete brood mortality. Our study, providing field-based experimental evidence of the consequences of anthropogenic noise, suggests potential fitness consequences of this global pollutant.

人为噪声（anthropogenic noise）是受到国际关注的污染物，越来越多的研究证据表明其会对动物的行为与生理机能造成干扰并产生负面影响。然而，量化其对生物生存后果的实证研究仍较为匮乏。我们借助野外实验（field experiment），探究了重复机动船噪声回放（motorboat-noise playback）对棘光鳃雀鲷（Acanthochromis polyacanthus）——一种护卵型珊瑚礁鱼类——的亲代抚育行为以及幼体存活的影响。我们对38个带有幼鱼卵块的天然巢穴开展了为期12天的连续观测。结果显示，与环境声回放（ambient-sound playback）组相比，机动船噪声回放组中的护巢雄鱼防御行为增多，同时其觅食行为与亲代-幼体互动频次均有所降低。人为噪声未对发育中的幼鱼生长产生影响，但显著降低了幼体的存活概率：环境声回放组的19个巢穴中幼鱼全部存活，而机动船噪声回放组的19个巢穴中有6个发生了全巢幼体死亡的情况。本研究通过野外实验提供了人为噪声影响的实证证据，表明这一全球性污染物可能会对物种适合度带来潜在后果。