Effects of pile driving sound playbacks and cadmium co-exposure on the early life stage development of the Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus.

There is an urgent need to understand how organisms respond to multiple, potentially interacting drivers in today's world. The effects of the pollutants anthropogenic sound (pile driving sound playbacks) and waterborne cadmium were investigated across multiple levels of biology in larval and juvenile Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus under controlled laboratory conditions. The combination of pile driving playbacks (170 dBpk-pk re 1 µPa) and cadmium combined synergistically at concentrations >9.62 µg[Cd] L-1 resulting in increased larval mortality, with sound playbacks otherwise being antagonistic to cadmium toxicity. Exposure to 63.52 µg[Cd] L-1 caused significant delays in larval development, dropping to 6.48 µg[Cd] L-1 in the presence of piling playbacks. Pre-exposure to the combination of piling playbacks and 6.48 µg[Cd] L-1 led to significant differences in the swimming behaviour of the first juvenile stage. Biomarker analysis suggested oxidative stress as the mechanism resultant deleterious effects, with cellular metallothionein (MT) being the predominant protective mechanism.

Marine invertebrate anthropogenic noise research - Trends in methods and future directions.

Selecting the correct methods to answer one's chosen question is key to conducting rigorous, evidence-based science. A disciplines' chosen methods are constantly evolving to encompass new insights and developments. Analysing these changes can be a useful tool for identifying knowledge gaps and guiding future studies. Research on the impact of anthropogenic noise on marine invertebrates, a topic with specific methodological challenges, has undergone substantial changes since its beginning in 1982. Using this field as an example, we demonstrate the benefits of such method analysis and resulting framework which has the potential to increase conclusive power and comparability of future studies. We list taxa studied to date, use a range of descriptors to analyse the methods applied, and map changes in experimental design through time. Based upon our analysis, three research strategies are proposed as a best practice framework for investigating effects of noise on marine invertebrates and delivering policy-relevant information.