Author: Robby Berman / Source: Big Think
- During photosynthesis, algae produces a symphony of little “pings.”
- The sounds are produced by oxygen bubbles breaking away from the plants.
- Monitoring reef health through its sound is a new avenue for acoustic ecology.
When oceanographers Lauren and Simon Freeman, a couple who work with the U.
S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Rhode Island, first mentioned what they’d heard to others, the response was not exactly positive. They’d been listening to sounds they were certain had been made by marine macroalgae covering underwater coral reefs in Hawaii. Simon recalls, “We were told the sound was from snapping shrimp, end of story.” But, listening at a few locations, they saw a correlation between the amount of sound and the quantity of algae. Further research has pretty much confirmed their hunch, and they’ve introduced a new avenue for marine acoustic ecology: Assessing the health of reefs according to the sounds they make.Back up. Sounds the algae make?
An oxygen bubble about to ping and float upward. (Freeman, et al)
Algae, like plants on dry land, convert sunlight and carbon dioxide to energy via photosynthesis. The process releases tiny bubbles of oxygen to the surface. As each bubble lets go of the…
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