Photo: Phil Bouchet campusreview. com. au
Quick study
Presentation on the effects of human-made noise on dolphins claims Three Minute Thesis prize.
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Curtin University PhD student who spends much of her time recording and analysing underwater soundscapes for the mutual benefit of local dolphin and human populations has taken out the 2014 Trans-Tasman Three Minute Thesis( TMT) title.
Having already won Curtin’ s in-house competition, Sarah Marley beat out 47 other finalists from across Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong with a lightning summary presentation of her thesis titled " Behavioural and Acoustic Responses of Coastal Dolphins to Noisy Environments ".
TMT contests give PhD candidates three minutes to deliver a compelling presentation of their thesis to an audience with little or no background in the presenter’ s field of expertise.
Marley says she plans to use the $ 5000 prize to help fund her research, which she hopes will lead to better understanding of the impact man-made underwater noise levels are having on dolphins.
“ The ocean has always been pretty noisy – of course it has all the animals themselves making noise and natural noise from the environment such as wind,
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waves and currents and so forth, but as human activity has developed over the years, we are putting more noise into the ocean as well,” she explained.“ Some of the noise will inevitably overlap with the sounds the animals are using and relying on; for example, where they might be using echolocation to find food. Perhaps they won’ t be able to forage as efficiently if their habitat is really noisy. [ Also ], of course for mating and even when trying to avoid predators and so forth.”
Marley’ s analysis, she hopes, will shed light on how noise such as that from boat engines, and cavitation created by propeller blades, affect dolphin activity, including potentially behavioural coping responses. Whilst it is early days, she believes the eventual findings may prove a win for both humans and dolphins.
“ If we can improve engines so they are not producing as much noise maybe they will also run more efficiently,” she says. " But also, perhaps, we may discover there are some areas [ humans ] should not use in certain times of the year or at least minimise our presence in if they are dolphin feeding areas, for example.
“ There are ways for everyone to benefit.” ■
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