A team of scientists says that playing sounds underwater can get fish to return to areas with severely damaged coral reefs(珊瑚礁).In an experiment, they found fish returned after hearing recordings of the sounds like a healthy ocean reef. The research results were reported in Nature Communications.

The scientists placed underwater speakers in areas where coral had been dying in Australia’s northern Great Barrier Reef. They played the sounds over a period of about six weeks in 2017 and studied the results. The team reported that twice as many fish arrived in the areas where the sounds of healthy coral were played. The sounds also led to a 50 percent increase in the number of species present in the area, the researchers found. The researchers noted the importance of having many different kinds of fish return to the area. Different species of fish perform many activities that support the ocean environment and sea life.

Steve Simpson is a professor at the University of Exeter who helped lead the research. He explained, “Healthy coral reefs are remarkably noisy places. They contain the sounds of many kinds of shrimp, fish and other sea creatures. Young fish listen to these sounds when they are looking for a place to settle. Reefs become extremely quiet when they suffer destruction that is usually related to human-caused pollution. Coral damage can drive shrimp and fish away. But the experiment suggested that the use of underwater loudspeakers was an effective way to get young fish to come back.”

Mark Meekan is a fish biologist. He said that the return of the fish is the first step towards seeing major improvements in reef health. “Recovery is underpinned (巩固) by fish that clean the reef and create space for corals to regrow,” he said. University of Bristol professor, Andy Radford, said the underwater sounds are a promising way to fight coral reef damage at the local community level. But he noted that other threats need to be reduced as well. These include climate change, pollution and over fishing.

I was now, in the months of November and December, expecting my crop of corn. On a sudden, I found I was in danger of losing it all by enemies of several sorts. It was hardly possible to keep away from them. The goats and the hares which I called enemies, tasting the sweetness of the leaf, lay in it day and night. As soon as it came up, they ate it so close that it could get no time to shoot up into stem.

I could do nothing but make a fence around it, which I did with a great deal of work because it required speed. However, as my land was small, suited to my crop, I got it totally well fenced in about three weeks’time. Shooting some of the animals in the daytime, I set my dog to guard it at night, tying him up to a post at the gate, where he would stand and bark all night long. So in a little time the enemies gave up and left the place, and the corn grew very strong and well.

But as the animals damaged it before, while my corn was in the leaf, the birds were likely to harm it now. Going along by the place to see how it grew, I saw my little crop filled with fowls, who stood, watching till I should be gone. I immediately let fly among them, for I always had my gun with me. I had no sooner shot than there rose up a little cloud of birds, which I had not seen at all, from among the corn itself.

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•Our natural ecology is broken. The places where you would expect wildlife to exist have been reduced to wet deserts. The seabed has been destroyed and there have been no living creatures any more.

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