Ecosystems &Biodiversity

PCK 3

Acoustic Ecology

Acoustic Ecology: Evesdropping on Species

Introduction
Tracking animals with new technology such as global positioning systems (GPS) and
plotting their tracks using Geograpgic information systems (GIS) has allowed scientists to
gather

data

that

has

been

unobtainable

in

the

past.

For

example,

see

http://www.marine.csiro.au/research/whitesharks/index.html and look at the shark tracks.

Recent developments in audio recording and processing have enabled conservation
ecologists to collect whole new sets of data from species, by eavesdropping on the sounds
they make. The migration of whales can be tracked, communication between animals such
as elephants can be studied, bird behaviour and courtship displays unravelled, and the
responses of animals to human noise understood and managed.
This is the web page for the Cornell University
Bioacoustics Research Program. at
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp

Click the link to around the globe

which shows the location of a number
of

their

sound

gathering

ecological interpretation projects.

and

Ecosystems &Biodiversity

Acoustic Ecology

Task 1 Eavesdropping on Whales

Where do the whales migrate to for summer, and where do they come from ?
How are the whales tracked ?

Space Age Whale Monitoring - What is a satellite acoustic tag ?

How is it attached to the whale ?

Task 2 Eavesdropping Equipment

Autonomous Hydrophones - Where are hydrophones located ?

Other Equipment: What are camera traps and what have they been used for?