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MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 508:17-32 (2014) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10911 Celestial patterns in marine soundscapes Erica Staaterman1,2,3,*, Claire B. Paris1,2, Harry A. DeFerrari1, David A. Mann4, Aaron N. Rice5, Evan K. D’Alessandro2 1Applied Marine Physics, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33149, USA 2Marine Biology & Fisheries, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33149, USA 3Beneath the Waves, Syracuse, NY 13202, USA 4Loggerhead Instruments, Sarasota, FL 34238, USA 5Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA *Corresponding author: estaaterman@rsmas.miami.edu ABSTRACT: Soundscape ecology is the study of the acoustic characteristics of habitats, and aims to discern contributions from biological and non-biological sound sources. Acoustic communication and orientation are important for both marine and terrestrial organisms, which underscores the need to identify salient cues within soundscapes. Here, we investigated temporal patterns in coral reef soundscapes, which is necessary to further understand the role of acoustic signals during larval settlement. We used 14 mo simultaneous acoustic recordings from 2 reefs, located 5 km apart in the Florida Keys, USA to describe temporal variability in the acoustic environment on scales of hours to months. We also used weather data from a nearby NOAA buoy to examine the influence of environmental variables on soundscape characteristics. We found that high acoustic frequencies typically varied on daily cycles, while low frequencies were primarily driven by lunar cycles. Some of the daily and lunar cycles in the acoustic data were explained by environmental conditions, but much of the temporal variability was caused by biological sound sources. The complexity of the soundscape had strong lunar periodicity at one reef, while it had a strong diurnal period at the other reef. At both reefs, the highest sound levels (~130 dB re: 1 μPa) occurred during new moons of the wet season, when many larval organisms settle on the reefs. This study represents an important example of recently-developed soundscape ecology tools that can be applied to any ecosystem, and the patterns uncovered here provide valuable insights into natural acoustic phenomena that occur in these highly diverse, yet highly threatened ecosystems. KEY WORDS: Soundscape ecology · Bioacoustics · Time series · Coral reefs · Larval fish · Fish acoustics Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Staaterman E, Paris CB, DeFerrari HA, Mann DA, Rice AN, D’Alessandro EK (2014) Celestial patterns in marine soundscapes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 508:17-32. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10911 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 508. Online publication date: August 04, 2014 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2014 Inter-Research.