ANR ACOULAK
(2025-2029)

Lakes are key resources for territories, providing many ecosystem services like water supply, aquatic biodiversity and human wellbeing. With the rise of recreational activities, lake managers worry about the increase in human presence on lakes with ever more powerful boats. One of the symptoms of water overcrowding is acoustic pollution. Boat sounds propagate in the air and generate conflicts between the populations of users, but also underwater where they are likely to disturb the aquatic fauna. Concern for freshwater acoustic pollution is very recent and ecosystem managers are seeking for assessment tools and fundamental knowledge on the ecological impacts to develop sustainable management strategies that promote human activities while preserving ecosystem integrity. We propose a timely and innovative project on underwater acoustic pollution using the peri-alpine lakes as model systems. Our first objective is to characterize underwater acoustic pollution in space and time using passive acoustic monitoring as new metrological tool and machine learning to process the data. We hypothesize that acoustic pollution varies in time depending on human activities and climatic variables, and in space according to local practices and regulations. Our second objective is to investigate impacts on dreissenid mussels and Eurasian perch larvae using playback experiments in the lab and the field. We hypothesize that increased sound level induces physiological and behavioral symptoms of a stress response. The consortium brings together experts from the fields of ecology, animal behavior, limnology and computer sciences. We will provide fundamental knowledge with international publications in the fields of environmental pollution, animal ecology, and machine learning, but also a unique database on freshwater underwater soundscapes, decision supports for lake managers, and materials for public awareness events.