Covid-19 lockdown impacts on a marine protected area
Conference Year
January 2021
Abstract
Covid-19 lockdowns reduced boat-based tour activities to the Biological Reserve of Caño Island, Costa Rica during 2020. Caño Island is one of the most popular tour destinations in Costa Rica due to its proximity to the mainland and diverse marine life. The purpose of this research is to determine how COVID-19 lockdowns impacted the soundscape of this protected area. Autonomous underwater recorders were deployed in September 2019 and 2020 to record the soundscape of Caño Island. We created a presence-absence matrix to look at boat presence and use RFCxArbimon soundscape analytical tools to generate a matrix of acoustic events by time of day and frequency bin. We hypothesized that a decrease in boat traffic will result in an increase of biological sound sources. By studying the effects of boat traffic and noise pollution on marine ecosystems such as the Caño island biological reserve, we can better understand what these protected ecosystems need in order to thrive.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Laura May Collado
Faculty/Staff Collaborators
Jose David Palacios (Fundacion Keto), Juan Jose Alvarado (Dept. Biology, University of Costa Rica), Laura May Collado (Dept. Biology, University of Vermont)
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Program/Major
Biology
Primary Research Category
Biological Sciences
Covid-19 lockdown impacts on a marine protected area
Covid-19 lockdowns reduced boat-based tour activities to the Biological Reserve of Caño Island, Costa Rica during 2020. Caño Island is one of the most popular tour destinations in Costa Rica due to its proximity to the mainland and diverse marine life. The purpose of this research is to determine how COVID-19 lockdowns impacted the soundscape of this protected area. Autonomous underwater recorders were deployed in September 2019 and 2020 to record the soundscape of Caño Island. We created a presence-absence matrix to look at boat presence and use RFCxArbimon soundscape analytical tools to generate a matrix of acoustic events by time of day and frequency bin. We hypothesized that a decrease in boat traffic will result in an increase of biological sound sources. By studying the effects of boat traffic and noise pollution on marine ecosystems such as the Caño island biological reserve, we can better understand what these protected ecosystems need in order to thrive.