Simulated anthropogenic noise exposure to marine invertebrates using a standing wave tube

The experimental design of a standing wave tube suitable for monitoring the impact of anthropogenic noise upon marine invertebrates is presented. Human usage of coastal water bodies continues to increase and many commercially harvested invertebrates face a broad suite of anthropogenic stressors (e.g., warming, pollution, acidification, and fishing pressure). Underwater noise is one such stressor that exists in coastal areas, but the potential impact on invertebrates, including sublethal effects such as masking, behavioral, and physiological impacts, is not well understood. A major obstacle to further progress in this field is that in-situ experiments using high sound levels require extensive permitting and can be difficult to monitor, while ex-situ laboratory experiments do not often account for acoustic artifacts likely present in closed tank environments. We demonstrate the design and implementation of a relatively inexpensive standing wave tube approach, which creates a uniform sound field large enough to allow simultaneous exposure of multiple invertebrates per trial. We exposed juvenile and sub-adult blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) and American lobsters (Homarus americanus) to simulated low-frequency boat noise and mid-frequency sonar, and measured behavioral and physiological responses, as well as acoustic pressure and particle motion to fully quantify the impacts of the sound field.