Snapping shrimp: Changes in environmental noise in Laguna de Términos, Campeche, México, after hurricanes

Abstract

Laguna de Términos, Campeche, México, is one of the largest coastal lagoons in Mexico where snapping shrimp is the main source of biological sound. We measured the environmental noise from 2004 to 2008 in stations distributed homogeneously in this lagoon during 17 sampling periods using a digital audio tape recorder sampling at 48 kHz with 16 bits for 1 minute at each station. The environmental noise in the recordings was measured with a semi-automatic MATLAB routine designed for this purpose. Results indicate that environmental noise in the lagoon changes from one sampling to another, but it changed drastically after the hurricanes of 2005 in some of the stations. This changes in submarine environmental noise helps us in understanding the effects of natural phenomena in the distribution and abundance of marine wildlife, such as snapping shrimps and bottlenose dolphins. [Work supported by CONACyT-Campeche and PAPIIT&PASPA-UNAM.]