Задание

Read the texts and match the headings to them. There is one that you do not need to use.

Write one number in each gap.

1. The contributors to ocean noise pollution

2. Not a silent world

3. Harming marine creatures

4. Killing thousands of marine creatures

Despite the myth propagated in part by French oceanographer and film-maker Jacques Cousteau during his 20th-century documentaries, many marine environments are alive with natural soundscapes and most marine animals rely on sound and hearing in some form for survival. A wide range of animals including whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, and some fish use sounds to communicate, navigate, find food and mates, and engage in other activities.

The most striking consequence of ocean noise pollution is the stranding of whales and dolphins. Strandings have been observed to be particularly frequent after naval sonar manoeuvres. Extreme sound events like these inflict vascular damage on the brain, lungs, and other organs. Further, animals may panic and surface too fast which causes nitrogen bubbles to form in the blood. The resulting embolism may cause death. Dead animals end up sinking to the seabed or getting beached on the coast.

Extremely loud sounds may cause hearing damage in marine animals. This is a grave problem for the many marine creatures that depend on their hearing for communicating, sensing danger, finding a partner, and hunting prey. Noise means stress and impairs the animals' immune system which makes them more susceptible to illness in general.