A mechanistic assessment of the potential ecological risk to seagrass meadows posed by marine echosounders

Abstract

Abstract Motivated by experimental evidence, a mechanistic model is used to investigate the impact of marine echosounder transmissions on seagrass leaves. The interaction of the ultrasonic field with the seagrass is solved within the leaf cross-section. The leaf tissue is assumed to be elastic, homogeneous and isotropic, with embedded cavities representing lacunae. A standard Galerkin finite element method is employed to numerically solve the resulting equations. Natural vibration frequencies are computed for leaves of Halodule wrightii and Syringodium filiforme. Strong perturbations in the leaf structure are expected when natural and echosounder frequencies match. The results reveal that a significant number of natural frequencies are within or near the typical frequency bands of echosounder operations. In addition, stresses in the leaf tissues of seagrass at 20 m depth were computed in a typical scenario for echosounder operations. Leaf-tissue damage in S. filiforme could result under these conditions. Within the framework of the theoretical assumptions, the results highlight the potential and, until now, unnoticed risks to seagrass meadows posed by marine echosounders.