Description
During the period of one week, from May 8 to 15, 2013, acoustic data was gathered at three
locations over a Posidonia oceanica bed in the Bay of Revellata, Corsica. Preliminary analysis of the
acoustic data shows that the environmental noise field in the band 2-7kHz was dominant during the
period. The noise in this band is generally associated with wind and surface agitation. However, the noise
power was not significantly correlated with wind speed. On the contrary, the diel cycle of the noise power
at three locations was highly correlated with the water column concentration of O2, as measured by
optodes. These measurements of environmental noise have confirmed the correlation between active
acoustic signals transmitted along a seagrass meadow and the photosynthetic activity of the plants
observed in a previous experiment conducted in the same area .The results suggest that acoustic noise can
be used as a proxy for the photosynthetic oxygen production of a Posidonia oceanica meadow. Therefore,
this work is a contribution for the development of a low cost passive acoustic system to assess the
primary production of coastal ecosystems .
; Zabel, F. 
