{"id":15304,"date":"2011-05-03T18:42:21","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T22:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/static\/?p=15304"},"modified":"2012-05-24T10:06:13","modified_gmt":"2012-05-24T14:06:13","slug":"massive-acoustic-trauma-incompatible-with-life-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/2011\/massive-acoustic-trauma-incompatible-with-life-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"“Massive acoustic trauma incompatible with life” (Spain)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>
\n—Calvin Luther Martin, PhD<\/a><\/p>\n

If you’re a giant squid in the vicinity of a wind turbine being sunk into the ocean floor—you’re in serious trouble. \u00a0So suggests a research\u00a0paper<\/a> about to be published by the Ecological Society of America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A team of bio-acousticians led by\u00a0Dr. Michel Andr\u00e9<\/a> of the\u00a0Technical University of Catalonia (Barcelona, Spain)\u00a0is publishing the results of a study of giant squid wherein they duplicated the man-made undersea noise\/vibration commonly experienced by marine life—acoustic pollution from naval exercises, sonar, seismic surveys,\u00a0oil & gas exploration and extraction, pile driving and blasting, and a host of other industrial and shipping intrusions, including (in the authors’ words) “the operation of windmills” (M Andr\u00e9 et al, p. 5).<\/p>\n

What they discovered surprised them: The delicate “vestibular” organs of squid and cuttlefish (together called cephalopods) are irreparably and dramatically destroyed by, in their words, “relatively\u00a0low levels” of low-frequency\u00a0sound (M Andr\u00e9 et al, p. 4).<\/p>\n

Up till now, only high levels of low-frequency sound have been shown to damage marine life “hearing” structures.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the second big surprise for Andr\u00e9 and his team. \u00a0The neurological structures being destroyed are not<\/span> used for hearing<\/em>; they are motion<\/em>, position<\/em>, and balance<\/em> detectors, with their attendant\u00a0behavioral responses—as in “fight or flight” or “panic” response.<\/p>\n

(Note to reader<\/em>: \u00a0Does this sound familiar?)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In humans, these would be the vestibular organs of the inner ear: \u00a0saccule, utricle, and semi-circular canals. \u00a0In marine invertebrates like squid, however, they’re called “statocysts,” and they are evolutionarily similar to your and my vestibular organs.<\/p>\n

Statocysts are fluid-filled, balloon-like structures that help these invertebrates maintain balance and position\u2014similar to the vestibular system of mammals. The scientists’ results confirmed that statocysts indeed play a role in perceiving low-frequency sound in cephalopods. . . . \u201cFor example, we can predict that, since the statocyst is responsible for balance and spatial orientation, noise-induced damage to this structure would likely affect the cephalopod\u2019s ability to hunt, evade predators and even reproduce; in other words, this would not be compatible with life.\u201d \u00a0(From the Press Release<\/a> by the Ecological Society of America<\/em>, 4-11-11.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lateral view of interior of an Octopus statocyst (M Andr\u00e9 et al. 2011)<\/h6>\n

In other words, just as Dr. Alec Salt<\/a> has demonstrated for humans, so for marine invertebrates: \u00a0“Even if you can’t hear the noise, it can<\/em> indeed hurt you!” \u00a0(In the authors’ words, “The presence of\u00a0lesions in the statocysts clearly points to the involvement\u00a0of these structures in sound reception and perception,” M Andr\u00e9 et al, p. 4.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let it be clearly understood that these researchers were not duplicating noise\/vibration from\u00a0operating <\/em>wind turbines, <\/em>which, presumably,\u00a0would be at lower sound pressure levels than Andr\u00e9 et al.\u00a0used, although far more protracted and widespread. \u00a0(Andr\u00e9’s team exposed squid to low-frequency bursts of sound for only 2 hours.) \u00a0What Andr\u00e9\u00a0duplicated was more akin to the blasting (dynamite) during the building of turbines: \u00a0a received sound\u00a0pressure level of 157\u00b15 dB in reference to 1\u00a0microPascal (\u03bcPa), peaking at 175 dB in reference to 1 \u03bcPa.<\/p>\n

At the moment, nobody knows for certain what impact wind turbine low-frequency noise has on marine life, be it cephalopods (squid), whales (which include dolphins), fish, crustaceans, mollusks—or mermaids. \u00a0The same of course holds true for turbines installed in freshwater lakes. \u00a0(Nina Pierpont has conjectured—let’s call it an “educated” conjecture—that the effects are not good. \u00a0Click here<\/a> and here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Still, it is not premature to ask, Can sea and aquatic life get “marine & aquatic” Wind Turbine Syndrome?<\/em> Dr. Michel Andr\u00e9 and his colleagues have demonstrated the answer is, “Hmm, the likelihood is high<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

If the relatively low levels and short exposure\u00a0applied in this study can induce severe acoustic trauma in\u00a0cephalopods, the effects of similar noise sources [such as wind turbine arrays] on these\u00a0species in natural conditions over longer time periods may\u00a0be considerable. \u00a0Because invertebrates are clearly sensitive\u00a0to noise associated with human activities, is noise, like\u00a0other forms of pollution, capable of affecting the entire web\u00a0of ocean life? \u00a0(M Andr\u00e9 et al, p. 5)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that’s as far as we can take the research at the moment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In any case, if you happened to be the unlucky squid exposed to Dr. Andr\u00e9’s sound pressures, this is what your “vestibular” organs (statocysts) now look like. \u00a0(You don’t need to be a trained biologist to get the picture that something horrible has happened here.)<\/p>\n

Immediately after exposure, damage was observed in the\u00a0macula statica princeps and on the crista sensory\u00a0epithelia. Kinocilia within hair cells were either missing or\u00a0were bent or flaccid. A number\u00a0of hair cells showed protruding apical poles and\u00a0ruptured plasma membranes, most probably resulting from\u00a0the extrusion of cytoplasmic material.<\/p>\n

Hair cells were also\u00a0partially ejected from the sensory epithelium, and spherical\u00a0holes corresponding to missing hair cells were visible in the\u00a0epithelium.<\/p>\n

The cytoplasmic content of the damaged hair\u00a0cells showed obvious changes, including the presence of\u00a0numerous vacuoles and electron dense inclusions not seen\u00a0in the control animals.<\/p>\n

Underneath the hair cells, afferent nerve fibers were swollen\u00a0and showed mitochondrial damage or complete degeneration.\u00a0In some specimens, large holes in the sensory epithelium\u00a0were also observed.<\/p>\n

The appearance of these lesions\u00a0became gradually more pronounced in individuals after 12,\u00a024, 48, 72, and 96 hours.<\/p>\n

Part of the cellular body of the\u00a0damaged cells was extruded above the sensory epithelium\u00a0into the statocyst cavity.<\/p>\n

The most pronounced\u00a0lesions were visible in specimens observed 96 hours\u00a0after sound exposure. In these individuals, the sensory\u00a0epithelium was severely damaged, with very few hair cells\u00a0remaining; most of the hair cells had been extruded. The\u00a0epithelium only presented supporting cells, creating a holed\u00a0mosaic, where residual hair cells showed either very few\u00a0bent, flaccid, or fused kinocilia, or none at all. \u00a0(M Andr\u00e9 et al, p. 3)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Holed mosaic”? \u00a0Think “Swiss cheese.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

“The almost complete extrusion of the hair cells, as well\u00a0as the holes present in the epithelium,” observe the authors, “are clear signs that\u00a0the noise impact was acute and that hair-cell damage was\u00a0immediate. In mammals and some fish species, such dramatic\u00a0damage has only been observed after exposure to\u00a0extremely high-intensity sound; low- to mid-intensity\u00a0acoustic stimuli have to date not been known to lead to\u00a0any obvious mechanical damage to the sensory epithelia”\u00a0(M Andr\u00e9 et al, p. 3).<\/p>\n

They go on:<\/p>\n

In addition to hair-cell damage, the experimental animals\u00a0showed swelling of afferent dendrites and neuronal degeneration,\u00a0confirming that the neurons\u00a0were also affected by the acoustic\u00a0trauma.<\/p>\n

In mammalian cochlea,\u00a0swelling of afferent dendrites occurs\u00a0during exposure to loud noise, and is\u00a0the result of an excessive release of\u00a0glutamate by the inner hair cell. \u00a0Under normal conditions, glutamate\u00a0acts as a neurotransmitter among the\u00a0inner hair cells, but has excito-toxic\u00a0(toxicity to nerve cells and processes\u00a0resulting from excess exposure to\u00a0a neuro-transmitter) effects when\u00a0secreted in large quantities.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0observed impacts on the stato-acoustic\u00a0organs of the noise-exposed\u00a0cephalopods suggests the occurrence\u00a0of an excito-toxic process due to an\u00a0excess of glutamate, which has also\u00a0been identified as a neuro-transmitter\u00a0in cephalopods. \u00a0(M Andr\u00e9 et al, p. 4)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In summary—again, I’ll let the authors speak for themselves: \u00a0“We present the first morphological and ultra-structural evidence\u00a0of massive acoustic trauma<\/em>, not compatible with life<\/em>, in four cephalopod species subjected to low-frequency\u00a0controlled-exposure experiments. Exposure to low-frequency sounds resulted in permanent and substantial\u00a0alterations of the sensory hair cells of the statocysts, the structures responsible for the animals\u2019 sense of\u00a0balance and position<\/em>.” (M Andr\u00e9 et al, Abstract<\/em>, emphasis added)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“For the first time we are seeing the effects of noise pollution on species that apparently have no use for sound. \u00a0We were shocked by the magnitude of the trauma” (from\u00a0UPI.com<\/a>, 4-11-11).<\/p>\n

Let’s rephrase Dr. Andr\u00e9’s\u00a0statement, to appreciate its full impact: \u00a0“For the first time we are seeing the effects of relatively low intensity low-frequency industrial noise on organs that are not used for hearing, but for motion<\/em>, position<\/em>, and balance <\/em>sense—and we were shocked by the magnitude of the trauma!”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To all you human guinea pigs going nuts from Wind Turbine Syndrome, does this sound eerily familiar? \u00a0(Do you need the number for a good lawyer?)<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00b7 —Calvin Luther Martin, PhD If you’re a giant squid in the vicinity of a wind turbine being sunk into the ocean floor—you’re in serious trouble. \u00a0So suggests a research\u00a0paper about to be published by the Ecological Society of America. A team of bio-acousticians led by\u00a0Dr. Michel Andr\u00e9 of the\u00a0Technical University of Catalonia (Barcelona, Spain)\u00a0is publishing the results of a study of giant squid wherein they duplicated the man-made undersea noise\/vibration commonly experienced by marine life—acoustic pollution from naval exercises, sonar, seismic surveys,\u00a0oil & gas exploration and extraction, pile driving and blasting, and a host of other industrial and shipping intrusions, including (in the authors’ words) “the operation of windmills” (M Andr\u00e9 et al, p. 5). What they discovered surprised them: The delicate “vestibular” organs of squid and cuttlefish (together called cephalopods) are irreparably and dramatically destroyed by, in their words, “relatively\u00a0low levels” of low-frequency\u00a0sound (M Andr\u00e9 et al, p. 4). Up till now, only high levels of low-frequency sound have been shown to damage marine life “hearing” structures. Which brings us to the second big surprise for Andr\u00e9 and his team. \u00a0The neurological structures being destroyed are not used for hearing; they are motion, position, and balance detectors, with their attendant\u00a0behavioral responses—as in “fight or flight” or “panic” response. (Note to reader: \u00a0Does this sound familiar?) In humans, these would be the vestibular organs of the inner ear: \u00a0saccule, utricle, and semi-circular canals. \u00a0In marine invertebrates like squid, however, they’re called “statocysts,” and they are evolutionarily similar to your and my vestibular organs. Statocysts are fluid-filled, balloon-like structures that help these invertebrates maintain balance and position\u2014similar to the vestibular system of mammals. The scientists’ results confirmed that statocysts indeed play a role in perceiving low-frequency sound in cephalopods. . . . \u201cFor example, we can predict that, since theRead More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[163,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}