Environmental resource management

Geology

Anthropocene

Climate change

Soundscape

Archaeology

Ocean acidification

Natural (archaeology)

Biology

Oceanography

Marine habitats

Abiotic component

Habitat

Sound (geography)

Geography

Ecology

Fishing

Environmental science

Science

Oceans have become substantially noisier since the Industrial Revolution. Shipping, resource exploration, and infrastructure development have increased the anthrophony (sounds generated by human activities), whereas the biophony (sounds of biological origin) has been reduced by hunting, fishing, and habitat degradation. Climate change is affecting geophony (abiotic, natural sounds). Existing evidence shows that anthrophony affects marine animals at multiple levels, including their behavior, physiology, and, in extreme cases, survival. This should prompt management actions to deploy existing solutions to reduce noise levels in the ocean, thereby allowing marine animals to reestablish their use of ocean sound as a central ecological trait in a healthy ocean.

The soundscape of the Anthropocene ocean