2025

Environmental Science & Technology

Chronic broadband noise increases the fitness of a laboratory-raised freshwater zooplankton

Prosnier, L., Rojas, E., Valéro, O., & Médoc, V.

Examples of noise-induced deviations in behavior and physiology are numerous, but whether these changes alter population dynamics remains largely unanswered. Using water flea, a pivotal zooplankton species in freshwater communities, we found that chronic exposure to broadband noise was associated with reduced mobility and increased reproductive success. Energy reallocation from mobility to reproduction could explain this counterintuitive result.

2025

Journal of Environmental Management

From sky to underwater: Can passive acoustic monitoring replace plane-based aerial photography for quantifying human use of inland waters?

Turco, T., Vieira, M., Jacquet, S., Guillard, J., Cachera, S., Beauchaud, M., & Médoc, V.

Tracking recreational boating is challenging for lake managers. We investigated the relationship between boat numbers obtained from plane-based aerial photography and sound levels obtained from passive acoustic monitoring. Interestingly, sound level was a good predictor of boat number, especially when using third-octave levels centered at 1584 Hz.

2025

Freshwater Biology

Long‐term boat noise effects on growth and behavioural patterns during early life stages of the African cichlid Maylandia zebra

Wang, W., Turco, T., Pradeau, A., Fonseca, P. J., Vasconcelos, R. O., Amorim, M. C. P., Coureaud, G. & Beauchaud, M.

We lack data on the effects of chronic exposure to noise in fish early stages. Using a split-brood design, we exposed juvenile cichlids Maylandia zebra to boat noise over 12 weeks. We found an increase in foraging and swimming distance, but a decrease in digging, shelter use, and group cohesion. However, at the end of the experiment, differences between treatment and control fish had disappeared, suggesting habituation to noise.

2024

Environmental Pollution

Behavioural response to boat noise weakens the strength of a trophic link in coral reefs

Minier, L., Bertucci, F., Gay, T., Chamot, Z., Turco, T., Schligler, J., Mills, S., Vidal, M., Parmentier, E., Sturny, V., Mathevon, N., Beauchaud, M., Lecchini, D. & Médoc, V.

Field and lab observations demonstrated that damselfish stay closer to their coral bommie during motorboat passages. Functional response derivation revealed that this reduction in space use decreases prey encounters and therefore weakens trophic interaction strength between fish and shrimps.

2023

Environmental Pollution

From behaviour to complex communities: Resilience to anthropogenic noise in a fish-induced trophic cascade

Rojas, E., Gouret, M., Agostini, S., Fiorini, S., Fonseca, P., Lacroix, G., & Médoc, V.

Do individual responses to noise spread to populations and communities? We addressed this question using long-term experiments in mesocosms with short term tests in aquariums. Adding boat noise to communities made of plankton and pelagic fish did not alter the top-down cascading effect of the fish. However, these fish showed alteration in their feeding behavior when tested in aquariums. Results obtained from individual behavior should not be extrapolated to community without formal testing.