Arthur N. Popper

Sensory biology of aquatic animals

This volume constitutes a series of invited chapters based on presentations given at an International Conference on the Sensory Biology of Aquatic Animals held June 24-28, 1985 at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. The immediate purpose of the conference was to spark an exchange of ideas, concepts, and techniques among investigators concerned with the different sensory modalities employed by a wide variety of animal species in extracting information from the aquatic environment. By necessity, most investigators of sensory biology are specialists in one sensory system: different stimulus modalities require different methods of stimulus control and, generally, different animal models. Yet, it is clear that all sensory systems have principles in common, such as stimulus filtering by peripheral structures, tuning of receptor cells, signal-to-noise ratios, adaption and disadaptation, and effective dynamic range. Other features, such as hormonal and efferent neural control, circadian reorganization, and receptor recycling are known in some and not in other senses. The conference afforded an increased awareness of new discoveries in other sensory systems that has effectively inspired a fresh look by the various participants at their own area of specialization to see whether or not similar principles apply. This inspiration was found not only in theoretical issues, but equally in techniques and methods of approach. The myopy of sensory specialization was broken in one unexpected way by showing limitations of individual sense organs and their integration within each organism. For instance, studying vision, one generally chooses a visual animal as a model.

A noisy spring: the impact of globally rising underwater sound levels on fish

The underwater environment is filled with biotic and abiotic sounds, many of which can be important for the survival and reproduction of fish. Over the last century, human activities in and near the water have increasingly added artificial sounds to this environment. Very loud sounds of relatively short exposure, such as those produced during pile driving, can harm nearby fish. However, more moderate underwater noises of longer duration, such as those produced by vessels, could potentially impact much larger areas, and involve much larger numbers of fish. Here we call attention to the urgent need to study the role of sound in the lives of fish and to develop a better understanding of the ecological impact of anthropogenic noise.

The Mammalian auditory pathway : neuroanatomy

This handbook presents a series of detailed reviews of the fundamental topics in auditory research. Each volume in the series covers its particular topic in detail over five to eight chapters. This first volume is concerned with mammalian auditory neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. The series is intended for advanced graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and clinical investigators.

The Mammalian Auditory Pathway: Neurophysiology

The Springer Handbook of Auditory Research presents a series of comprehensive and synthetic reviews of the fundamental topics in modern auditory research. It is aimed at all individuals with interests in hearing research including advanced graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and clinical investigators. The volumes will introduce new investigators to important aspects of hearing science and help established investigators to better understand the fundamental theories and data in fields of hearing that they may not normally follow closely. Each volume is intended to present a particular topic comprehensively, and each chapter will serve as a synthetic overview and guide to the literature. As such, the chapters present neither exhaustive data reviews nor original research that has not appeared in peer-reviewed journals. The series focuses on topics that have developed a solid data and conceptual foundation rather than on those for which a literature is only beginning to develop. New research areas will be covered on a timely basis in the series as they begin to mature. Each volume in the series consists of five to eight substantial chapters on a particular topic. In some cases the topics will be ones of traditional interest for which there is a solid body of data and theory, such as auditory neuroanatomy (Vol. 1) and neurophysiology (Vol. 2).

Comparative hearing : fish and amphibians

1 Hearing in Fishes and Amphibians: An Introduction.- 2 Hearing in Two Worlds: Theoretical and Actual Adaptive Changes of the Aquatic and Terrestrial Ear for Sound Reception.- 3 The Auditory Periphery in Fishes.- 4 The Acoustic Periphery of Amphibians: Anatomy and Physiology.- 5 Anatomy of the Central Auditory Pathways of Fish and Amphibians.- 6 Central Auditory Processing in Fish and Amphibians.- 7 The Sense of Hearing in Fishes and Amphibians.- 8 The Enigmatic Lateral Line System.- 9 Acoustic Communication in Fishes and Frogs.

High intensity anthropogenic sound damages fish ears

Marine petroleum exploration involves the repetitive use of high-energy noise sources, air-guns, that produce a short, sharp, low-frequency sound. Despite reports of behavioral responses of fishes and marine mammals to such noise, it is not known whether exposure to air-guns has the potential to damage the ears of aquatic vertebrates. It is shown here that the ears of fish exposed to an operating air-gun sustained extensive damage to their sensory epithelia that was apparent as ablated hair cells. The damage was regionally severe, with no evidence of repair or replacement of damaged sensory cells up to 58 days after air-gun exposure.

Noise-induced stress response and hearing loss in goldfish (Carassius auratus).

SUMMARY Fishes are often exposed to environmental sounds such as those associated with shipping, seismic experiments, sonar and/or aquaculture pump systems. While efforts have been made to document the effects of such anthropogenic (human-generated) sounds on marine mammals, the effects of excess noise on fishes are poorly understood. We examined the short- and long-term effects of increased ambient sound on the stress and hearing of goldfish (Carassius auratus; a hearing specialist). We reared fish under either quiet (110-125 dB re 1 μPa) or noisy (white noise, 160-170 dB re 1 μPa) conditions and examined animals after specific durations of noise exposure. We assessed noise-induced alterations in physiological stress by measuring plasma cortisol and glucose levels and in hearing capabilities by using auditory brainstem responses. Noise exposure did not produce long-term physiological stress responses in goldfish, but a transient spike in plasma cortisol did occur within 10 min of the noise onset. Goldfish had significant threshold shifts in hearing after only 10 min of noise exposure, and these shifts increased linearly up to approximately 28 dB after 24 h of noise exposure. Further noise exposure did not increase threshold shifts, suggesting an asymptote of maximal hearing loss within 24 h. After 21 days of noise exposure, it took goldfish 14 days to fully recover to control hearing levels. This study shows that hearing-specialist fishes may be susceptible to noise-induced stress and hearing loss.

Comparative studies of hearing in vertebrates

I Fishes.- 1 Structure and Function in Teleost Auditory Systems.- 2 Underwater Localization-A Major Problem in Fish Acoustics.- 3 Central Auditory Pathways in Anamniotic Vertebrates.- II Amphibians.- 4 The Structure of the Amphibian Auditory Periphery: A Unique Experiment in Terrestrial Hearing.- 5 Nonlinear Properties of the Peripheral Auditory System of Anurans.- III Reptiles.- 6 The Reptilian Cochlear Duct.- 7 Physiology and Bioacoustics in Reptiles.- IV Birds.- 8 Structure and Function of the Avian Ear.- 9 Behavior and Psychophysics of Hearing in Birds.- 10 Sound Localization in Birds.- 11 Response Properties of Neurons in the Avian Auditory System: Comparisons with Mammalian Homologues and Consideration of the Neural Encoding of Complex Stimuli.- PartV Mammals.- 12 Directional Hearing in Terrestrial Mammals.- 13 Comparative Organization of Mammalian Auditory Cortex.- 14 Man as Mammal: Psychoacoustics.- 15 The Evolution of Hearing in the Mammals.- VI Future View.- 16 Comparative Audition: Where Do We Go from Here?.

Hearing by whales and dolphins

1 Hearing in Whales and Dolphins: An Overview.- 2 Cetacean Ears.- 3 In Search of Impulse Sound Sources in Odontocetes.- 4 Communication and Acoustic Behavior of Dolphins and Whales.- 5 Acoustics and Social Behavior of Wild Dolphins: Implications for a Sound Society.- 6 The Auditory Central Nervous System of Dolphins.- 7 Electrophysiological Measures of Auditory Processing in Odontocetes.- 8 Psychoacoustic Studies of Dolphin and Whale Hearing.- 9 Echolocation in Dolphins.- 10 Acoustic Models of Sound Production and Propagation.

The Auditory Periphery in Fishes

Fossil evidence shows that an inner ear is found in the most primitive of jawless vertebrates (Stensio 1927; Jarvick 1980; Long 1995). It may never be known whether these vertebrates actually were able to “hear” or whether the earliest ear may have been only a vestibular organ for the detection of angular and linear accelerations of the head. However, it is not hard to imagine that such a system could have ultimately evolved into a system for detection of somewhat higher frequency sounds during early vertebrate evolution (Van Bergeijk 1967; Poper and Fay 1997). Although some might argue that sound detection would not have evolved until fish, or predators, started to make sounds, this may not be a valid argument. In fact, it is very likely that the earliest role, and still the most general role, for sound detection is to enable a fish to gain information about its environment from the environment’s acoustic signature (Popper and Fay 1993). Such a signature results from the ways a sound field produced by sources such as surface waves, wind, rain, and moving animals is scattered by things like the water surface, bottom, and other objects.