UMass Amherst Ecologists among the First to Record and Study Deep-sea Fish Noises

Contact: Janet Lathrop from Umass Office of News and Media Relations 413/545-0444 AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachusetts Amherst fish biologists have published one of the first studies of deep-sea fish sounds in more than 50 years, collected from the sea floor about 2,237 feet (682 meters) below the North Atlantic. With recording technology now more affordable, Rodney Rountree, Francis Juanes and colleagues are exploring the idea that many fish make sounds to communicate with each other, especially those that live in the perpetual dark of the deep ocean. Though little is known at present about the significance of sounds made by deep-sea fishes, Rountree and Juanes say that if, as their pilot study suggests, these tend to be low-amplitude, then man-made noise in the oceans may turn out to be a particular problem for some important species. Their paper appears in the new book, "Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life," from Springer Science+Business Media in its "Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology" series. It...
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Danylchuk featured in new documentary ‘Fish Meat’

Provided by In the Loop A new documentary, "Fish Meat: Choose Your Farm Wisely," by eco-filmmaker Ted Caplow and featuring fish ecologist Andy Danylchuk of the Environmental Conservation Department, debuts this week at the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema near Palm Springs, Calif. The film exposes some pitfalls of modern aquaculture and the plight of the world's wild fish stocks, to help consumers think more holistically about where their seafood comes from. Half of the seafood on the market today comes from fish farms, which range from huge industrial operations to small family-run concerns, says Danylchuk. Media messages about the environmental sustainability of various aquaculture practices are inconsistent and often not helpful. In "Fish Meat," he and his friend Caplow, an environmental engineer and producer at Fish Navy Films of Coconut Grove, Fla., tell the story of how they sailed to Turkey's ancient seas to explore successful modern fish farming on a local scale. They examine existing models of large- vs. small-scale aquaculture...
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Bethany Bradley Leads Analysis of New Invasive Plant Species

Provided by: In the Loop http://www.umass.edu/loop/talkingpoints/articles/144093.php Ecologists call for screening to prevent a new wave of invasive plant species Just when you thought you might have heard the worst of global warming propects, add this to the list: invasive plants . . . invasions that make kudzu Oriental bittersweet and purple loosestrife look like . . . well . . . kudzu, Oriental bittersweet (right) and purple loosestrife. Only worse. An analysis led by Bethany Bradley of the Environmental Conservation Department suggests that climate change predicted for the United States will boost demand for imported drought- and heat-tolerant landscaping plants from Africa and the Middle East. This greatly increases the risk that a new wave of invasives will overrun native ecosystems in the way kudzu, Oriental bittersweet and purple loosestrife have in the past, members of the international team say. The kudzu invasion of the past few decades saw whole forests overgrown in the Southeast, along with hedgerows, power lines and even houses. In wetlands...
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