Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41644629›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2026

Leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) react to impulsive sounds.

Samir H Patel, Ryan Munnelly, Kate Choate, Leah M Crowe, Farrell Davis, Erin Fischell, Joshua Hatch, Victoria Oriole, Rick Rogers, Nathan Shivers and 1 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Samir H PatelCoonamessett Farm Foundation, 277 Hatchville Road, East Falmouth, MA, 02536, USA. spatel@cfarm.org.
Ryan MunnellyCoonamessett Farm Foundation, 277 Hatchville Road, East Falmouth, MA, 02536, USA.
Kate ChoateNortheast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 166 Water Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA.
Leah M CroweIntegrated Statistics Under Contract to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 16 Sumner Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA.
Farrell DavisCoonamessett Farm Foundation, 277 Hatchville Road, East Falmouth, MA, 02536, USA.
Erin FischellAcbotics Research 82 Technology Park Drive Falmouth, East Falmouth, MA, 02540, USA.
Joshua HatchNortheast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 28 Tarzwell Drive, Narragansett, RI, 02882, USA.
Victoria OrioleCoonamessett Farm Foundation, 277 Hatchville Road, East Falmouth, MA, 02536, USA.
Rick RogersIntegrated Statistics Under Contract to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 16 Sumner Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA.
Nathan ShiversCoonamessett Farm Foundation, 277 Hatchville Road, East Falmouth, MA, 02536, USA.
Heather L HaasNortheast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 166 Water Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Many marine ecosystems, including in the Northwest Atlantic, are expected to experience a sudden and sustained increase in underwater noise due to ocean development. To investigate the response of sea turtles to impulsive sounds, specifically those generated from seismic surveys, we equipped leatherback sea turtles at a seasonal foraging ground in coastal Massachusetts with data loggers to record video footage, sound, depth, and location. We then exposed the tagged turtles to a controlled short burst (0.25 ms), broad frequency (~ 300—1200 Hz), high intensity (sound source level of 221 dB re 1μPa) impulsive sound produced by a seismic sparker towed from a vessel. We collected a mean (± SD) of 109.4 ± 35.3 min of footage from 13 leatherbacks across four days in 2023, with the sparker exposure lasting 52.2 ± 11.6 min per turtle. Underwater peak sound pressure level of frequencies within the hearing range of leatherbacks (100—1200 Hz) were between ~ 128.5—176.2 dB during the tag deployments. We assessed the effects of peak sound pressure level on turtle behavior metrics and found that there was a significant effect on tortuosity, dive duration, and probability of foraging from the sound intensity coinciding with the emitted impulsive sound, while swim speed was more correlated with proximity to the sparker vessel regardless of sound intensity level. Probability of foraging declined by ~ 64% during the exposure period. These behavioral shifts along with their potential to decrease individual fitness, should be considered when evaluating the environmental impacts of intense acoustic stimuli on sea turtles.

Indexed as

SoundTurtlesAnimalsBehavior, AnimalNoiseAnthrophonyDive durationForagingSeismic sparkerSound pressure levelTortuosity

Identifiers

PMID41644629
PMCPMC12923785

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.