Going the Distance: Influence of Distance Between Boat Noise and Nest Site on the Behavior of Paternal Smallmouth Bass K. MacLean & T. S. Prystay & M. J. Lawrence & A. J. Zolderdo & L. F. G. Gutowsky & E. Staaterman & A. J. Gallagher & S. J. Cooke Received: 13 November 2019 /Accepted: 13 February 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 Abstract The effects of anthropogenic noise have gar- nered significant attention in marine ecosystems, but com- paratively less is known about its impacts on freshwater ecosystems. For fish that provide parental care, the effects of acoustic disturbance could have fitness-level conse- quences if nest tending behavior is altered. This study explored the effects of motorboat noise on the parental behavior of nesting male smallmouth bass ( Micropterus dolomieu; Lacépède, 1802), an important freshwater game fish in North America that provides sole paternal care to offspring. Specifically, we evaluated how boat noise prox- imity to a bass nest (ranging from 4.5 to 90 m) influenced paternal care behaviors. A total of 73 fish were exposed to a 3-min motorboat playback designed to simulate a boat sound that typically occurs in areas near littoral nesting sites. The fish were video recorded, and their behaviors were analyzed before, during, and after exposure to the playback. Residency time was the only behavioral metric to be adversely affected by noise playbacks but only when in close proximity to the speaker. Our results suggest that boat noise may have an impact on bass reproductive fitness in specific contexts where combustion motors are used near shore during the nesting period. The largely null findings may indicate a resilience to boat noise and/or habituation to the noise. In addition, boats displace water and create waves that represent another form of distur- bance that could be experienced by fish but was not simulated here. Future research should integrate behavioral and physiological responses to boat noise and other aspects of boat disturbance to better understand the fitness impacts of boating activity on freshwater fish. Keywords Smallmouth bass . Anthropogenic noise . Nesting behavior . Parental care . Teleost . Stress . Boat noise 1 Introduction Noise pollution arising from human activities is a global phenomenon affecting all ecosystems (Kight and Swaddle 2011). Research into the effects of noise pol- lution has largely focused on birds (Ortega 2012) and mammals (Tyack 2008; Barber et al. 2010), with a more recent effort to understand the effects on fishes, partic- ularly in the marine realm (Celi et al. 2016; Herbert- Read et al. 2017; Cox et al. 2018; Hasan et al. 2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04470-9 K. MacLean : T. S. Prystay : M. J. Lawrence (*) : A. J. Zolderdo : S. J. Cooke Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology and Institute of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada e-mail: m_lawrence27@live.ca M. J. Lawrence Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada L. F. G. Gutowsky Aquatic Resource and Monitoring Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Peterborough, ON K9L 1Z8, Canada E. Staaterman : A. J. Gallagher Beneath the Waves, Inc., Herndon, VA, USA Water Air Soil Pollut (2020) 231: 151 /Published online: 23 2020 March Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.