Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Related Publications
• Parameters
• Project Information
• Funding

Two experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 was a preliminary test and consisted of 5 cups (5 different treatments, 1 cup per treatment, and no replicates). These had 0, 50, 100, 200, and 300 mg of CCA powder, respectively. Larvae in these cups were counted nondestructively after 24 hours and again after 48 hours. Experiment 2 consisted of 24 cups with 3 replicates each of 8 CCA powder amounts: 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, and 300 mg. The larvae were counted after 24 hours.

Plates of calcite (approximately 1-3 mm thick) covered in CCA were collected from the MOC aquarium tanks’ walls. These plates had full pink-colored CCA surface area coverage (taxonomy was not identified). Calcite plates were crushed into a paste with a mortar and pestle and allowed to dry in the shaded, open-air area until ca. 30 g of powder formed. Polypropylene specimen cups (140 ml) were used to hold 20 larvae each, and 2-inch diameter three-pointed ceramic stilts (Clay King DP2-Roselli stilts; SC, USA) without CCA were used to provide a settlement surface (Lillis et al., 2018; Aoki et al., 2024). The stilts placed in each cup were preconditioned in the aquarium tanks for over one month, but no natural CCA growth was observed on them during this period.

Each experimental “cup” container was filled with approximately 120 ml of FSW and the experimentally designated amount of powder. Cups were gently shaken to mix the powder, though the powder never fully went into solution and eventually precipitated out. Pocillopora damicornis larvae (n = 20 per cup) and a stilt were added to each cup. Larvae were one to two days old when the experiments started. These larvae were randomly distributed between sample cups and treatments. The containers were placed in custom racks gently floating on the surface, allowing them to maintain a constant position within the flow-through tank maintained at local seawater temperature. 

All cups were scored after 24 hours by counting the number of larvae swimming or settled at each location: the lid, stilt, cup, or loose CCA chunk. Each cup was swirled gently to detach any sticky but not fully settled larvae from any surfaces. Then the cup’s lid was removed and visually examined under a UV light with a dissecting microscope to identify and count auto fluorescing larvae (NIGHTSEA; Hatfield, PA). Metamorphosed polyps were identified by having flattened and developed septa, which divided the polyp radially about the mouth.

Settlement data are presented here in raw form.

NSF Award Abstract:

Given human’s expanding use of the ocean, there is increasing need to understand natural and anthropogenic noise impacts to sound-sensitive taxa. Understanding acoustic ecology is vital as given rates of ocean changes and the fact that science is still unraveling how marine animals use sound to communicate, detect predators, seek prey and find suitable habitat. To gain this knowledge there is a need for a cost-effective, extended-duration tool that allows researchers to easily and experimentally replay sound cues, manipulate soundscapes and introduce ‘noise’ in field-based experiments to address new questions in ocean ecology and conservation. This effort will support the build and testing of a scalable, cost-effective, ocean-ready and long-duration sound playback tool. This tool will enable scientists to gather new insight into how sound is used by and impacts diverse marine fauna. The research will focus pilot tests on coral reefs, imperiled hubs of biodiversity that support billions of USD in ecosystem services, and seek to enhance the attraction and settlement of young corals as a method to support and potentially rebuild reefs. The project will incorporate and train undergraduate and graduate students, young technicians, and engineers, including underrepresented minorities, in all aspects of this development and testing. This effort is designed to be self-sustaining so that once it is completed, other scientists and stakeholders will be able to use acoustic enrichment and new questions to support the redevelopment of reefs and conduct previously unobtainable ecosystem studies.

The science will be piloted and optimized through beta-experiments replaying soundscapes to attract coral larvae and induce settlement onto reefs. The team involved will leverage the emerging understanding of reef soundscapes, their own key data, and a beta-system, to enable this acoustically-mediated playback and larval settlement investigation tool. The technical components of the system will be durable and optimized for the playback of reef sounds, enhancing its dynamic range, sound propagation, and variety of sound patterns. The pilot tool will be tested and optimized at an established US Virgin Islands field station with years of measurements on soundscapes and community dynamics. Additional testing and user-feedback integrated will occur a new site in Year 2. From these calibrations, iterations and tests, the project will provide an important new natural-based instrument for the toolboxes of scientists and stakeholders to conduct novel acoustics studies surrounding the fields of marine ecology, changing oceans, physical oceanography, and broader basic ocean research.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.