To cope with a changing aquatic soundscape: Neuroendocrine and antioxidant responses to chronic noise stress in fish

Abstract

Anthropogenic underwater noises that change aquatic soundscapes represent an important issue in marine conservation. While it is evident that strong underwater acoustic pollutants may cause significant damage to fish at short ranges, the physiological effects of long-term exposure to relatively quiet but continuous noise are less well understood. Here, we present a summary of the known impacts of long-term underwater noise on hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis-mediated physiological responses, oxidant/antioxidant balance, and neurotransmitter regulation in fish. Cortisol is known to play a central role in physiological stress response, most often as a mediator of acute response. However, recent research indicates that noise exposure may also induce chronic corticosteroid responses, which involve increased rates of cortisol turnover. Moreover, continuous noise affects oxidative stress and antioxidant systems in vertebrates and fish, suggesting that oxidative species may mediate some noise-induced physiological responses and make these systems valuable noise stress markers. Lastly, noise stress is also known to affect neurotransmitters in the brain that may cause neurophysiological and behavioral changes. The neurochemical mechanisms underlying observed behavioral disorders in fish after exposure to changing acoustic environments are a topic of active research. Overall, a growing body of evidence suggests that chronic noise pollution could be a threat to fish populations. In future work, systematic and comparative investigations into long-term and transgenerational adaptive neuronal and metabolic responses to noise will be important to understand the physiological patterns and dynamics of noise response relevant to fish conservation.