一国际研究小组发现，珊瑚幼虫和一些鱼类一样，需要依靠声音辨别方向，从而寻找到栖息地。科学家担心，日益严重的噪音污染将影响到珊瑚礁的生长，令本已十分脆弱的珊瑚礁生态系统“不堪重负”。
英国布里斯托大学近日发布公报称，包括该校研究人员在内的一个国际研究小组在加勒比海地区研究发现，珊瑚幼虫在寻找合适的栖息场所时，会受到声音的强烈吸引。正是通过栖息在珊瑚礁群中的海洋生物发出的声音，珊瑚幼虫才能够向珊瑚礁集结，一代代繁衍生息，从而促使珊瑚礁不断成长。而这种简单的生物是如何侦测到声音的，研究人员目前还没弄清楚。布里斯托大学的史蒂夫辛普森博士认为，可能是珊瑚幼虫表面的细微绒毛能够感知声波对水分子造成的波动，从而帮助它们辨别回家的方向。
公报称，由于全球变暖、海水酸化等原因，全球珊瑚礁退化现象十分严重，珊瑚礁已成为最脆弱的生态系统之一。而新发现则使科学家们更担心船舶航运、海底钻探、地震测试等人类行为所产生的噪音污染对本已脆弱的海洋生态造成更大的影响。
推荐原文出处：
PLoS ONE doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010660
Coral Larvae Move toward Reef Sounds
Mark J. A. Vermeij1,2*, Kristen L. Marhaver3, Chantal M. Huijbers4, Ivan Nagelkerken4, Stephen D. Simpson5
1 Carmabi Foundation, Willemstad, Cura?ao, The Netherlands Antilles, 2 Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 3 Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America, 4 Department of Animal Ecology and Ecophysiology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 5 School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol, United Kingdom
Free-swimming larvae of tropical corals go through a critical life-phase when they return from the open ocean to select a suitable settlement substrate. During the planktonic phase of their life cycle, the behaviours of small coral larvae (&1 mm) that influence settlement success are difficult to observe in situ and are therefore largely unknown. Here, we show that coral larvae respond to acoustic cues that may facilitate detection of habitat from large distances and from upcurrent of preferred settlement locations. Using in situ choice chambers, we found that settling coral larvae were attracted to reef sounds, produced mainly by fish and crustaceans, which we broadcast underwater using loudspeakers. Our discovery that coral larvae can detect and respond to sound is the first description of an auditory response in the invertebrate phylum Cnidaria, which includes jellyfish, anemones, and hydroids as well as corals. If, like settlement-stage reef fish and crustaceans, coral larvae use reef noise as a cue for orientation, the alleviation of noise pollution in the marine environment may gain further urgency.
