Project description
Listening closer to vessel noise impact on Baleen whales
Baleen whales, as key marine predators, play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem health. However, the rise in vessel traffic since the Industrial Revolution has transformed the ocean’s soundscape, with ship noise becoming a dominant disruptor. These whales, which rely on sound for navigation and communication, are particularly vulnerable because their hearing ranges overlap with the frequencies of ship noise. Despite documented adverse effects like altered behaviour and reduced foraging, there is limited data on the specific noise levels involved. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the VESSEL project will use advanced tagging and noise analysis to measure noise exposure and its effects on whale energy budgets.
Objective
Baleen whales are mega predators that shape the ecosystem structure and maintain healthy marine environments. A decrease in their populations can therefore have cascading trophic impacts detrimental to marine ecosystems they inhabit. The marine soundscape has dramatically changed since the Industrial Revolution. With increasing traffic, ship noise has become the most ubiquitous and pervasive source of anthropogenic noise in the ocean. Baleen whales rely heavily on acoustic cues for interpreting and exploring the marine environment. However, they hear best and produce sound at the same frequencies where cargo ships make the most noise, which makes them potentially the most sensitive species to vessel noise disturbance. Numerous studies have documented short-term adverse effects on baleen whales exposed to vessel noise, including changes in behaviour, and decreases and/or cessations in foraging. However, there is a lack quantitative data on i) the specific noise levels that trigger changes in behaviour, and ii) how these noise-induced behavioural changes impact the fitness of the exposed individuals. Through VESSEL, I propose to fill these important knowledge gaps by applying an innovative combination of state-of-the-art tagging technology and noise analysis to, for the first time in baleen whales, i) quantify received noise levels on the animal, and ii) estimate a dose-response relationship between vessel noise levels and the energy budget of the exposed individuals. The outcomes of VESSEL will be crucial to parameterize Population
Consequence of Disturbance (PCoD) models that link disturbance parameters to fitness and population dynamics. Importantly, VESSEL will be of direct relevance to the management of underwater noise levels in EU marine waters by providing evident-based estimates of critical noise thresholds for the fitness of baleen whales that will set thresholds for Good Environmental Status (GES).
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
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