Page 21 - Special Issue

bioacoustic Monitoring Contributes
to an Understanding of Climate Change
linked to environmental parameters to determine the im- pact of climate change in specific regions. Avian bioacoustic monitoring has been proven successful for identifying spe- cies and determining population density (Frommolt and Tauchert, 2014), as well as determining species richness in regions (Towsey et al., 2014). Bioacoustic monitoring can also be fruitful for examining the relationship between cli- mate change and changing distribution of other species that rely on acoustic communication, including those living in aquatic and in terrestrial environments. Developing semi- automated approaches into fully automated approaches can provide rapid, real-time information on species identifica- tion, distribution, and behavior in habitats vulnerable to cli- mate change.
Conclusions
This article has focused on the impact of climate change on the acoustics of individuals or species, but it is important to emphasize that an individual in any habitat is one link in a network of interactions with other individuals and spe- cies. This collective interaction of biological, geophysical, and anthropogenic sound, termed “soundscape ecology,” is studied to understand the dynamics of acoustics in environ- ments across space and time (Pijanowski et al., 2011). We are only just beginning to understand how climate impacts the acoustic behavior of species. The evidence so far suggests that any acoustically communicating animal is at risk for climate-change induced modifications. For marine animals, ocean acidification may result in increased ambient noise, which can affect communication, foraging, and predator avoidance. For terrestrial animals, changes in precipitation and temperature can result in modifications to emitted vo- calizations, modifications in the auditory system, and modi- fications to the balance between the sender and the receiver. Together with changes in species’ distribution due to envi- ronmental parameters, all these factors may result in chang- es to the entire soundscape of regions. New methods and approaches are allowing for rapid analysis of soundscapes in the marine (Denes et al., 2014; Parks et al., 2014), fresh- water (Gage and Axel, 2014), and terrestrial environments (Farina and Pieretti, 2014; Rodriguez et al., 2014). As the planet continues to adapt to climate change, it is important that all bioacoustic studies document environmental param- eters and climate conditions. With this information, we can begin to understand how the sounds of entire habitats and ecosystems will change in response to our changing climate and how this will impact bioacoustics on a global scale.
14 | Acoustics Today | Summer 2014
biosketches
Laura N. Kloepper is a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow with dual appointments at Brown Univer- sity and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Her research focuses on the sensory and behavioral processes underlying echolocation in toothed whales and microchiropteran bats. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University
of Hawaii, investigating the dynamics of echolocation in odontocetes using laboratory animals and hydrophone ar- rays. She currently uses new technological approaches and mathematical techniques to understand adaptive vocal- motor behavior in echolocating bats. She recently taught a course on climate change biology at Brown University, and is interested in linking bioacoustics and climate science.
Andrea Megela Simmons is Professor of Psychology, with a secondary appoint- ment in Neuroscience, in the Depart- ment of Cognitive, Linguistics, and Psychological Sciences at Brown Uni- versity. Her primary research interest is in analysis of the development of the oc- tavolateralis (auditory, vestibular, lateral
line) systems in developing anurans across the metamorphic transition. She also studies vocal interactions and dynamics in frog choruses using microphone array techniques. A new line of research concerns the impact of anthropogenic noise on communication in frogs and echolocation in bats.
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Blair, W. F. (1961). “Calling and spawning seasons in a mixed population of anurans,” Ecology, 42, 99–110.
Bradbury, J.W., and Vehrencamp, S.L. (1998). Principles of Animal Com- munication (Sinaeur Associates, Sunderland, MA).
Brewer, P. G., and Hester, K. C. (2009). “Ocean acidification and the increas- ing transparency of the ocean to low-frequency sound,” Oceanography 22, 86-93.
Spring 2020, Special Issue | Acoustics Today | 21 Reprinted from volume 10, issue 3