Arthur N. Popper

Professor, Department of Biology

Co-Director, Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing

Associate Dean, College of Chemical and Life Sciences

Department of Biology
The University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742

Phone: (301) 405-1940
E-mail: apopper@umd.edu

Curriculum Vitae

The work in my laboratory was, for many years, directed towards understanding basic structure and function of the auditory system in vertebrates, with particular interest in the ear of fishes and its sensory hair cells. These investigations frequently involved a wide number of teleost species (e.g., goldfish, zebrafish, cichlids, American shad, sleeper gobies) and the use of the comparative approach in order to understand the function of the ear as well as its evolution. More recently, the focus of our work has become redirected to apply our expertise on fish bioacoustics to more applied questions that examine the effects of human-generated (anthropogenic) sound on fish.

Past work

Using a variety of different behavioral paradigms, we have determined the range of sounds fish can hear, as well as their ability to discriminate signals. Most recently, we have discovered that the American shad is able to detect ultrasound (up to 180 kHz), in contrast with most other species of fish that can detect sounds to only 1 - 3 kHz. The implications of this finding are considerable, and there are interesting parallels in this system to the system that has evolved in moths to detect ultrasound produced by bats. Indeed, we have evidence that American shad have evolved ultrasound detection to avoid a major predator of theirs, echolocating dolphins!

Other investigations, using neuroanatomical methods, asked questions regarding the central projections of the eighth nerve from individual end organs of the ear to the brain and the organization of the eighth nerve at the level of the various end organs.

Questions of sensory hair cell structure and evolution have been a focal point of much current research. A significant finding, based upon work using electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry and other techniques, has been the discovery of multiple types of sensory hair cells in the ears of fishes. This finding refutes earlier work that suggested that hair cell heterogeneity only occurs in amniotes. Importantly, the discovery of multiple types of hair cells in fishes helps in our understanding of the way that the fish ear functions and also has implications for our understanding of when multiple hair cell types evolved in vertebrates.

Considerable work has also been directed at questions of hair cell addition, development, and regeneration. Unlike most other vertebrates, fishes add very substantial numbers of sensory hair cells to the ear for many years after hatching. We have also demonstrated that fish regenerate hair cells. Current investigations are directed at determining the patterns of hair cell development in fishes, with particular emphasis on questions relating to the similarities and differences between embryonic and post-embryonic hair cell development and between normal development and regeneration. Related studies are asking questions about developmental similarities and differences between different types of sensory hair cells.

Current work

We have recently developed considerable interest in the applied use of sound to control movement of fish and on the effects of anthropogenic (human-generated) sounds on fishes and marine mammals.. There is a significant problem in areas of hydropower dams, intakes to power plants, irrigation ditches, and similar places, where fish can move or be carried into areas of danger. A variety of different mechanical and behavioral methods have been tried to protect fish from these dangers, with varying levels of success. One of the most successful techniques has been the use of ultrasound to prevent clupeid fishes (herrings and relatives) from entering power plant intakes. Our interest is to help extend the use of sound to other species and sites since sound potentially could be useful over longer distances than other stimuli.

A bigger issue concerns the effects of human-generated (anthropogenic) sound on aquatic life (e.g., Popper 2003; Popper et al. 2004; Hastings and Popper 2005; Popper and Hastings 2009). Over the past decades there has been a substantial increase in the human-generated sounds in the marine environment. While there has been great concern about the effects of such sounds on marine mammals, far less consideration has been given to the effects of the same sounds on fishes and invertebrates. Since the ear of fishes is based upon the same basic principles and same hair cell system as that of mammals, there is good reason to suspect that anthropogenic sounds, and particularly loud sounds such as those produced by large ships, air-guns, and other sources might impact fish. Impact could include death, damage to sensory cells, or stress-related changes. Less overt, but equally significant, impact could result from long-term changes in behavior that could alter reproductive potential. These impacts are of great potential importance not only since fish make up the major component of the vertebrate marine ecosystem, but also because they are major components in the food chain of many marine mammals, and humans.

Over the past several years, we have investigated the effects of a wide range of sound sources on fish including seismic air-guns (e.g., McCauley et al. 2003; Popper et al. 2005; Song et al. 2008), sonar (Popper et al. 2007), increased background levels (Smith et al. 2004a, b, 2006; Wysocki et al. 2007; Davidson et al. 2007), and sounds associated with barging of fish (Halvorsen et al. 2009) (see Publications link to the left to find specific references),

Current work is investigating the effects of pile driving on fish (see Hastings and Popper 2005 for background). This work, which was overviewed by Halvorsen et al.  (2008) is continuing and includes examination of the effects of actual pile driving sounds on fish in the laboratory.

For journal articles please follow this link Journal Articles
you can also use Google Scholar search: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&scoring=r&q=author%3A%22an+popper%22+&as_ylo=1900

Books

Popper, A.N., and Fay, R.R. (1980). eds. Comparative Studies of Hearing in Vertebrates. Springer-Verlag, New York

Tavolga, W.N., Popper, A.N., and Fay, R.R. (1981). eds. Hearing and Sound Communication in Fishes. Springer-Verlag, New York

Atema, J., Fay, R.R., Popper, A.N., Tavolga, W.N. (1988). eds. Sensory Biology of Aquatic Animals. Springer-Verlag, New York.

Webster, D.B., Fay, R.R., and Popper, A.N. eds. (1992). Evolutionary Biology of Hearing, Springer Verlag, New York.

Fay, R. R., and Popper, A. N., Series Editors, Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, multi-volume series on the hearing sciences published by Springer.

• Volume 1: Webster, D.B., Popper, A.N., and Fay, R. R. eds. (1992). The Mammalian Auditory Pathways: Neuroanatomy, Springer Verlag, New York.
• Volume 2: Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. eds. (1992). The Mammalian Auditory Pathway: Neurophysiology, Springer Verlag, New York.
• Volume 3: Yost, W. A., Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. eds. (1993). Human Psychophysics, Springer Verlag, New York.
• Volume 4: Fay, R.R. and Popper, A. N. eds. (1994). Comparative Hearing: Mammals, Springer Verlag, New York.
• Volume 5: Popper, A. N. and Fay, R. R. eds. (1995). Hearing by Bats, Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 6: Hawkins, H.L., McMullen, T.A., Popper, A.N. and Fay, R.R. eds. (1996). Auditory Computation, Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 7: Van De Water, T., Popper, A.N., and Fay, R.R. eds. (1996). Clinical Aspects of the Auditory System, Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 8: Dallos, P., Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. eds. (1996). The Cochlea, Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 9: Rubel, E. W, Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. eds. (1997). Development of the Auditory System, Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 10: Hoy, R. R., Popper, A. N., and Fay,. R. R. eds. (1998). Comparative Hearing: Insects, Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 11: Fay, R. R. and Popper, A. N. eds. (1999). Comparative Hearing: Fishes and Amphibians. Springer-Verlag, New York
• Volume 12: Au, W., Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. (Eds). (2000). Hearing by Whales and Dolphins. Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 13: Dooling, R. E., Fay, R. R. and Popper, A. N. (eds). (2000). Comparative Hearing: Reptiles and Birds. Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 14: Keats, B., Fay, R. R., and Popper, A. N. (eds). (2002). Genetics and Auditory Disorders. Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 15: Oertel, D., Fay, R. R., and Popper, A. N. (eds). (2002). Integrative Functions in the Mammalian Auditory Pathway. Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 16: Megela Simmons, A., Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. (eds). (2002). Acoustic Communications. Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 17:  Bacon, S., Fay, R.R., and Popper, A.N. (eds.). (2004). Compression: From Cochlea to Cochlear Implants, Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 18: Greenberg, S., Ainsworth, W., Popper, A.N., and Fay, R.R. (eds.). (2004). Speech Processing in the Auditory System, Springer-Verlag, New York
• Volume 19: Highstein, S. M, Fay, R.R., and Popper, A.N. (eds.). (2004). The Vestibular System, Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 20: Zeng, F.-G., Popper, A.N., and Fay, R.R. (eds.). (2004). Auditory Prostheses, Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Volume 21: Bullock, T. H., Hopkins, C, D., Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. (eds). (2005). Electroreception, Springer, New York, in press.
• Volume 22 Manley, G.A., Popper, A.N., and Fay, R.R. (eds.). (2004). Evolution of the Vertebrate Auditory System, Springer, New York.
• Volume 23: Parks, T. N., Rubel, E. W, Fay, R. R., and Popper, A. N. (eds.). (2004). Development and Plasticity of the Central Auditory System. Springer, New York.
• Volume 24: Plack, C. J., Oxenham, A. J, Fay, R. R., and Popper, A. N. (eds.). (2005). Pitch: Neural Coding and Perception, Springer, New York, in press.
• Volume 25: Popper, A. N. and Fay, R. R. (eds.). (2005). Sound Source Localization, Springer, New York, in press.
• Volume 26: Kelley, M. W., Wu, D. K., Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. (eds.). (2005). Development of the Ear. Springer, New York, in press.
• Volume 27: Eatock, R-A., Fay, R. R., and Popper, A. N. (eds.). (2005). Vertebrate Hair Cells. Springer, New York, in press.
• Volume 24: Plack, C. J., Oxenham, A. J, Fay, R. R., and Popper, A. N. (eds.). (2005). Pitch: Neural Coding and Perception, Springer, New York.
• Volume 25: Popper, A. N. and Fay, R. R. (eds.). (2005). Sound Source Localization, Springer, New York.
• Volume 26: Kelley, M. W., Wu, D. K., Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. (eds.). (2005). Development of the Inner Ear. Springer, New York.
• Volume 27: Eatock, R-A., Fay, R. R., and Popper, A. N. (eds.). (2006). Vertebrate Hair Cells. Springer, New York.
• Volume 28: Narins, P. M. , Feng, A. S., Fay, R. R. and Popper, A. N. (eds.). (2007). Hearing and Sound Communication in Amphibians. Springer, New York.
• Volume 29: Yost, W. A., Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. (eds). (2007). Auditory Perception of Sound Sources. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, New York.
• Volume 30: Manley, G. A., Fay, R. R., and Popper, A. N. (eds). (2007). Active Processes and Otoacoustic Emissions in Hearing. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, New York.
• Volume 31: Schacht, J., Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. (eds). (2007). Auditory Trauma, Protection, and Repair. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, New York.
• Volume 32: Webb, J. F., Fay, R. R., and Popper, A. N. (eds). (2008). Fish Bioacousitcs. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, New York.
• Volume 33: Salvi, R. J., Popper, A. N., and Fay, R. R. (eds). (2008). Hair Cell Regeneration, Repair, and Protection. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, New York.