TY - JOUR T1 - Underwater Soundscape Monitoring and Fish Bioacoustics: A Review JF - Fishes Y1 - 2018 A1 - Lindseth, Adelaide A1 - Lobel, Phillip KW - acoustic monitoring KW - ambient noise KW - coral reef KW - Environmental monitoring KW - fish KW - passive acoustic detection KW - underwater sound AB -

Soundscape ecology is a rapidly growing field with approximately 93% of all scientific articles on this topic having been published since 2010 (total about 610 publications since 1985). Current acoustic technology is also advancing rapidly, enabling new devices with voluminous data storage and automatic signal detection to define sounds. Future uses of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) include biodiversity assessments, monitoring habitat health, and locating spawning fishes. This paper provides a review of ambient sound and soundscape ecology, fish acoustic monitoring, current recording and sampling methods used in long-term PAM, and parameters/metrics used in acoustic data analysis.

VL - 3 UR - http://www.mdpi.com/2410-3888/3/3/36 IS - 3 JO - Fishes ER - TY - THES T1 - Impacts of Ambient Noise on Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) Habitat Use and Behavior T2 - ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Y1 - 2018 A1 - Roland, Adele KW - acoustics KW - ambient noise KW - Balaenoptera acutorostrata KW - Behavior KW - biological sciences KW - Conservation biology KW - Environmental science KW - Health and environmental sciences KW - Minke KW - Pure sciences KW - Soundscape AB -

This study examines the soundscape of minke whale habitat in the Scottish Inner Hebrides around the islands of Mull, Coll and Muck and near the Ardnamurchan Peninsula of the Scottish mainland. To compare the soundscape with minke whale presence and behavior, acoustic recordings were paired with behavior and respiration data. Acoustic recordings were taken using a Soundtrap 300, deployed from a whale watching vessel. Data was taken from June - September 2016. The soundscape was analyzed by comparing power spectral density averaged into octave bands (center frequencies from 16 Hz – 128 kHz). The soundscape of the region is ephemeral, with some locations having very different acoustic patterns depending on transient animal and human activity. Humans contribute to the soundscape through movement of small ships and dredging. Notable biological contributors to the soundscape include dolphins and snapping shrimp. Outside the island of Coll is quieter at mid-frequencies (2-8 kHz octave bands). Inside Coll is quieter at frequencies in the 16-128 kHz octave bands. Ardmore point, in the Sound of Mull, is louder for most frequencies. These differences create a potential way for animals to navigate or orient based on sound. Observed minke whale behaviors were categorized into behavior states to create a behavior budget. Minke whales in this area spend 56% of their daytime feeding, 7% traveling and 39% in other activities. The average inter-breath interval for minke whales in this study was 60.7s. Minke presence and behavior were compared with sound levels in 1/3rd octave bands using generalized linear models. Minke whale presence and behavior both correlate with changes in the Soundscape. Minke whales are less likely to be seen with higher levels of low (31 Hz) and high (25.4 kHz) frequency sound. Higher levels of sound at low (63 Hz) frequencies were associated with lower probability of minke whales feeding. Higher probability of minke whales feeding in higher levels of high (25.4 kHz) frequency sound may indicate that minke whales are optimizing that time which is spent in regions with higher levels of noise at these frequencies.

JF - ProQuest Dissertations and Theses SN - 9780355660500 UR - https://search.proquest.com/docview/2020840628?accountid=15181 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Primate Habitat Acoustics Y1 - 2017 A1 - Brown, Charles H. A1 - Waser, Peter M. KW - acoustic adaptation hypothesis KW - ambient noise KW - amplitude fluctuation KW - animal vocalization KW - comparative bioacoustics KW - Distortion KW - excess attenuation KW - reverberation AB -

Natural habitats are not recording studios. Calls emitted in nature encounter an irregular assortment of hard surfaces that reflect and scatter the wave front, producing complicated patterns of constructive and destructive interference. The propagated wave front is subsequently disturbed by wind, thermal gradients, and atmospheric absorption. Collectively, these phenomena result in an unpredictable and untidy acoustic environment. Furthermore, thunder, rain, crashing waves, or the relentless chatter of biotic sources can result in high ambient-noise levels that may mask the signal, overwhelm the recipient, and obliterate significant nuances and embellishments. Thus, vocal communication is hampered by attenuation, reverberation, distortion, and acoustic disturbances. Accordingly, the twin components of vocal communication, sound production and acoustic perception, may have undergone persistent selection to counter the most prominent impediments to both hearing and being heard. Primates have radiated from rain forest to grassland and other habitats, and each habitat differs acoustically. Hence, there is reason to believe that the duration, amplitude, pitch, and composition of primate vocal repertoires, the timing of emissions, and the placement and orientation of vocalizers is not haphazard, but each has become tuned to the acoustic parameters of the natal habitat to heighten the clarity of vocal exchanges. This chapter begins with an overview of the acoustic properties of rain forest, riverine forest, and savanna habitats occupied by East African primates, which is followed by reviews of how primate calls become distorted when propagated in natural habitats and how distortion scores have been used to explore the acoustic adaptation hypothesis. Finally, significant opportunities for additional research are highlighted.

PB - Springer International Publishing CY - Cham VL - 63 SN - 978-3-319-59476-7 UR - http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-59478-1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Maintaining acoustic communication at a cocktail party: heterospecific masking noise improves signal detection through frequency separation JF - Journal of Experimental Biology Y1 - 2013 A1 - Siegert, M. E. A1 - Heiner Römer A1 - Hartbauer, M. KW - ambient noise KW - auditory interneuron KW - insects KW - katydid KW - novelty detection KW - selective encoding AB -

We examined acoustic masking in a chirping katydid species of the Mecopoda elongata complex due to interference with a sympatric Mecopoda species where males produce continuous trills at high amplitudes. Frequency spectra of both calling songs range from 1 to 80 kHz; the chirper species has more energy in a narrow frequency band at 2 kHz and above 40 kHz. Behaviourally, chirper males successfully phase-locked their chirps to playbacks of conspecific chirps under masking conditions at signal-to- noise ratios (SNRs) of −8 dB. After the 2 kHz band in the chirp had been equalised to the level in the masking trill, the breakdown of phase-locked synchrony occurred at a SNR of +7 dB. The remarkable receiver performance is partially mirrored in the selective response of a first-order auditory interneuron (TN1) to conspecific chirps under these masking conditions. However, the selective response is only maintained for a stimulus including the 2 kHz component, although this frequency band has no influence on the unmasked TN1 response. Remarkably, the addition of masking noise at 65 dB sound pressure level (SPL) to threshold response levels of TN1 for pure tones of 2 kHz enhanced the sensitivity of the response by 10 dB. Thus, the spectral dissimilarity between masker and signal at a rather low frequency appears to be of crucial importance for the ability of the chirping species to communicate under strong masking by the trilling species. We discuss the possible properties underlying the cellular/synaptic mechanisms of the ‘novelty detector’.

VL - 216 UR - http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/doi/10.1242/jeb.089888https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1242/jeb.089888 IS - 24 JO - Journal of Experimental Biology ER -