Symposia

4th-6th June, 2007 in Lanzarote.

A multi-disciplinary Workshop on Noise-Related Stress in Marine Mammals

At this interdisciplinary workshop experts from all over the world met. Their expertise included the impacts of noise on humans and animals, animal psychology, physiology, stress-induced reactions, mathematical ecology, behavioural ecology and marine mammals.

At this workshop, it was determined that we can assume that at least some acoustic sources may induce stress in marine mammals. Furthermore, behavioural responses (or lack thereof) were deemed a poor indication for the true impacts on an individual in terms of physiology and psychology. It was also found that the context of exposure is extremely important, including previous exposure to noise, pollutants and other threats. Masking, or the “party room effect”, where you can have trouble hearing sounds of interest, like your friends, was also discussed. Not only is this directly a problem, as marine mammals use sound to find food, but the inability of them to do this or to communicate with others can also be stressful. Likewise, animals that are already stressed may interpret unclear signals due to masking in pessimistic ways.