Some of the nation's leading marine science and policy experts will take part in panel discussions on "Understanding Acoustic Impacts on Marine Animals" at Duke University on Monday, April 24, and Tuesday, April 25. They will discuss recent findings on how animals such as dolphins, whales, seals, manatees and fish use sound to communicate and navigate, and on how human-made noises, such as sonar, may affect these functions.
The talks are open to the public.
The April 24 event will start at 2:30 p.m. in Love Auditorium in the Levine Science Research Center on Duke's main campus.
The April 25 event will start at 12:30 p.m. in the Duke University Marine Lab Auditorium in Beaufort, N.C.
"In recent years, a lot of attention has been focused on determining what role, if any, noises produced by human activities such as military sonar or seismic surveying technology have played in whale, dolphin and porpoise strandings in North Carolina and other coastal regions worldwide," said event organizer Brandon L. Southall, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Acoustics Program. "But the issue is much broader than this. The potential effects of chronic, lower-level changes in background noise could actually be more profound.
"Our discussions will be a chance to review the latest scientific findings on natural and human uses of sound in the marine environment, on how marine animals hear, and on how they may be affected by sound," he said. "Talks will cover not merely the possible role of intense, discrete exposures in stranding events, but also potential acoustic impacts on fisheries, animal social communication and echolocation, and other aspects of marine mammal biology and behavior.
"We'll also be considering some of the policy implications of these findings," Southall said.
Other panelists joining Southall in the discussions include:
- Andrew J. Read, Rachel Carson Associate Professor of Marine Conservation Biology, Duke University and the Duke Center for Marine Conservation;
- Emily Lindow, senior policy adviser and special adviser for international affairs, Office of the Director, National Marine Fisheries Service;
- Peter L. Tyack, senior scientist and Hope Noyes Chair, Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution;
- Douglas Nowacek, assistant professor, Florida State University Department of Oceanography and the Mote Marine Laboratory Sensory Biology Program; and
- Tara Cox, postdoctoral research associate, Duke Center for Marine Conservation.
The talks are sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke, and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke.
For more information about the panel discussions, contact Brandon Southall at (301) 606-4028 or Brandon.Southall@noaa.gov, or Andrew Read at (252) 504-7590 or aread@duke.edu.
For help reaching the experts, contact Tim Lucas at (919) 613-8084 or tdlucas@duke.edu.
For information on recent lectures and panel discussions cosponsored by NOAA on marine acoustics, visit the Web at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/acoustics/lecture.htm.