MANY of the world’s protected reefs are in remote locations, making it difficult to keep a close eye on their health. Perhaps the solution is to keep an ear on them. That’s what Marc Lammers of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology in Kane’ohe has been doing for the past year with his underwater listening devices, which he placed on reefs off O’ahu, Hawaii.
Called Ecological Acoustic Recorders (EARs), the devices have detected the ubiquitous crackling of tiny snapping shrimp, the murmurs from fish and the calls of nearby marine mammals. Shrimp sounds peak at dawn and dusk, and the…
