#ecoacoustics

[noosphe-re]

The Journal of Acoustic Ecology - World Forum for Acoustic Ecology

[dendroica]

Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics - Yale E360

Biologists have long recognized the value of recording sound to identify animals and learn about their behavior. For example, the first recordings of marine mammals – of beluga whales in Canada in 1949 – led to an ongoing explosion of whale research. The transition from analog tape to digital recording has shrunk recorders’ size and increased their quality, helping to establish the research fields of bioacoustics and ecoacoustics over the past several decades. Scientists are learning enormous amounts about how species interact with each other and the environment through sound, such as how urban birds are evolving to sing louder and at a higher pitch than their rural counterparts.

Audio recorders are in a sense better than cameras because they can record species over far larger areas, said Aide. But the use of autonomous environmental audio recorders has been constrained because of cost. Commercial models can run $500 to $1,000 because there’s not been a large, non-specialist market for them. Manually identifying bird, frog, or insect species’ songs on a recording from an area that may host hundreds of species is also skilled, time-consuming work. This has limited most acoustic research to single species or small areas.

Recent technical breakthroughs are changing that. First, cheap audio recorders, designed specifically to monitor animals, are now available. Aide showed me a small recorder about the size of a credit card and the thickness of a pack of cigarettes, an AudioMoth. Developed by a British research group called Open Acoustic Devices and first made available in late 2017, it’s only $70, power-efficient, and open source, meaning the hardware design and associated software are freely available.

The AudioMoth can record everything from extremely low-frequency gunshots to extremely high-frequency bat vocalizations that are far beyond the range of human hearing. Users can build their own weatherproof enclosures or, if they’re prepared to accept a slight loss in audio quality, simply place the device in a disposable ziploc bag and tie it to a tree. About 9,000 AudioMoths have already been sold, sales divided about equally between researchers, conservation organizations, and private individuals. A miniaturized version, the μMoth, has just been announced; it weighs a mere 5 grams and could be mounted on a living bird.

AudioMoths have been used to map the foraging habitat of the Cuban greater funnel-eared bat, an endemic species that roosts only in a single cave, and are being used to search for the New Forest cicada, an insect that’s thought to be extinct in Britain. (The cicada has not been heard there since 2000.) It’s also been used to detect poachers’ gunshots in jungles in Belize.

[leahbarclay]

Recording wetlands on Stradbroke Island for a new Advance Queensland project #hydrophones #fieldrecording #wetlands #conservation #nature #acousticecology #ecoacoustics (at North Stradbroke Island)

[noosphe-re]

[leahbarclay]

3D printed ear for binaural live streams in the rainforest canopy #biospheresoundscapes #acousticecology #ecoacoustics #binaural #3dsound #conservation #locationsound #soundscape

[leahbarclay]

Synalpheus pinkfloydi - a new discovery in the Pacific Ocean is making an appearance in my Earth Optimism presentation about freshwater and marine acoustic ecology. One of the loudest creatures in the ocean, this newly discovered species of snapping shrimp was named after Pink Floyd by scientists from Seattle University, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Brazil's Universidade Federal de Goiás #acousticecology #ecoacoustics #marinebiology #biospheresoundscapes #pacificocean #climateaction #earthoptimism #conservation #nature #oceanlistening #soundscape

[orbdeny]

[estefania-aa]

Escucha Còdol de Estefania AA en #SoundCloudhttps://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/uRbYv Còdol [12 min - Barcelona] Pieza sonora de la Playa “Es Codolar”, bajo la muralla de la Vila Vella en el núcleo histórico de Tossa de Mar. Paisaje sonoro donde se entremezcla, la historia pasada con el presente de vacaciones. Ruidos. Naturaleza limitada por murallas de piedra contra el ataque de los otros... Vientos que chocan. Seres que se adaptan a las vibraciones humanas, al privilegio humano que desdibuja la huella de la memoria de todos. Grabación desde los límites del canto rodado, desde la frontera entre la tierra y el ser humano. Estefania AA ------------------ Còdol [12 min - Barcelona] Sound piece of “Es Codolar” Beach, under the wall of Vila Vella in the historic center of Tossa de Mar. Soundscape where past history is intermingled with the present of vacations. Noises. Nature limited by stone walls against the attack of the others... Crashing winds. Living beings that adapt to human vibrations, to human privilege that blurs the traces of everyone's memory. Recording from the limits of the boulder, from the border between the land and the human being. Estefania AA . . . . #soundscapes #fieldrecordings #ecoacoustics #bioacoustics #worldlisteningday #wld2022 #listeningacrossboundaries #codolpiece #estefaniaaa #gees #catalunya #tossademar #barcelona #soundart #soundandlimits #listeningproject #soundconscience @worldlistening @estefaniaaa_____ #grupodeexploraciondelentornosonoro @soundcloud (en Tossa De Mar, Costa Brava) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgMLAb_jL41/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=