Here's What Photosynthesis Sounds Like Underwater

[Judi Lynn]

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | November 30, 2018 01:46pm ET

If you listen closely, you can hear little plants harnessing the sun's energy. All you have to do is dive underwater and listen for the faint but distinctive "ping!" that red algae make while carrying out photosynthesis, a new study finds.

Just like plants on land, algae photosynthesize — essentially using the sun's rays to turn molecules of carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen gas. Underwater, those teeny tiny oxygen bubbles rush upward. As these bubbles detach from the plant, they make a short "ping" sound, the researchers found.

"Many such bubbles create a large, distributed sound source over the seafloor," the researchers wrote in the study, published online Oct. 3 in the journal PLOS ONE. These noteworthy pings may help researchers monitor the health of coral reefs covered by these algae, they said. [In Photos: Diving in a Twilight Coral Reef]

The researchers first noticed the pings in Hawaii, when they discerned that healthy, protected reefs were making low-frequency sounds, while damaged reefs seemed to call out in higher-pitched sounds, Hakai Magazine reported.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/64207-photosynthesis-makes-ping-sound-underwater.html