Bioacousticsis a cross-disciplinarysciencethat combinesbiologyandacoustics.Usually it refers to the investigation ofsoundproduction, dispersion and reception inanimals(includinghumans).[1]This involvesneurophysiologicalandanatomicalbasis of sound production and detection, and relation of acousticsignalsto themediumthey disperse through. The findings provide clues about theevolutionof acoustic mechanisms, and from that, the evolution of animals that employ them.
Inunderwater acousticsandfisheries acousticsthe term is also used to mean the effect ofplantsand animals on sound propagated underwater, usually in reference to the use ofsonartechnology forbiomassestimation.[2][3]The study of substrate-borne vibrations used by animals is considered by some a distinct field calledbiotremology.[4]
History
editFor a long time humans have employed animal sounds to recognise and find them. Bioacoustics as ascientific disciplinewas established by theSlovenebiologistIvan Regenwho began systematically to studyinsectsounds. In 1925 he used a specialstridulatorydevice to play in a duet with an insect. Later, he put a malecricketbehind a microphone and female crickets in front of a loudspeaker. The females were not moving towards the male but towards the loudspeaker.[5]Regen's most important contribution to the field apart from realization that insects also detect airborne sounds was the discovery oftympanal organ's function.[6]
Relatively crude electro-mechanical devices available at the time (such asphonographs) allowed only for crude appraisal of signal properties. More accurate measurements were made possible in the second half of the 20th century by advances in electronics and utilization of devices such asoscilloscopesand digital recorders.
The most recent advances in bioacoustics concern the relationships among the animals and their acoustic environment and the impact of anthropogenicnoise.Bioacoustic techniques have recently been proposed as a non-destructive method for estimatingbiodiversityof an area.[7]
Importance
editIn the terrestrial environment, animals often use light for sensing distance, since light propagates well through air. Underwater sunlight only reaches to tens of meters depth. However, sound propagates readily through water and across considerable distances. Many marine animals can see well, but using hearing for communication, and sensing distance and location. Gauging the relative importance of audition versus vision in animals can be performed by comparing the number ofauditoryandoptic nerves.
Since the 1950s to 1960s, studies on dolphin echolocation behavior using high frequency click sounds revealed that many different marine mammal species make sounds, which can be used to detect and identify species under water. Much research in bioacoustics has been funded bynavalresearch organizations, as biological sound sources can interfere withmilitaryuses underwater.[8]
Methods
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Listening is still one of the main methods used in bioacoustical research. Little is known about neurophysiological processes that play a role in production, detection and interpretation of sounds in animals, soanimal behaviourand the signals themselves are used for gaining insight into these processes.
Acoustic signals
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An experienced observer can use animal sounds to recognize a "singing" animalspecies,its location and condition in nature. Investigation of animal sounds also includes signal recording with electronic recording equipment. Due to the wide range of signal properties and media they propagate through, specialized equipment may be required instead of the usualmicrophone,such as ahydrophone(for underwater sounds), detectors ofultrasound(very high-frequencysounds) orinfrasound(very low-frequency sounds), or alaser vibrometer(substrate-borne vibrational signals).Computersare used for storing and analysis of recorded sounds. Specialized sound-editingsoftwareis used for describing and sorting signals according to theirintensity,frequency,duration and other parameters.
Animal sound collections, managed bymuseums of natural historyand other institutions, are an important tool for systematic investigation of signals. Many effective automated methods involving signal processing, data mining, machine learning and artificial intelligence[9]techniques have been developed to detect and classify the bioacoustic signals.[10]
Sound production, detection, and use in animals
editScientistsin the field of bioacoustics are interested in anatomy and neurophysiology oforgansinvolved in sound production and detection, including their shape,muscleaction, and activity ofneuronal networksinvolved. Of special interest is coding of signals withaction potentialsin the latter.
But since the methods used for neurophysiological research are still fairly complex and understanding of relevant processes is incomplete, more trivial methods are also used. Especially useful is observation of behavioural responses to acoustic signals. One such response isphonotaxis– directional movement towards the signal source. By observing response to well defined signals in a controlled environment, we can gain insight into signal function,sensitivityof the hearing apparatus,noisefiltering capability, etc.
Biomass estimation
editBiomass estimation is a method of detecting and quantifyingfishand other marine organisms usingsonartechnology.[3]As the sound pulse travels through water it encounters objects that are of different density than the surrounding medium, such as fish, that reflect sound back toward the sound source. These echoes provide information on fish size, location, andabundance.The basic components of the scientificecho sounderhardware function is to transmit the sound, receive, filter and amplify, record, and analyze the echoes. While there are many manufacturers of commercially available "fish-finders," quantitative analysis requires that measurements be made withcalibratedecho sounder equipment, having highsignal-to-noise ratios.
Animal sounds
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Sounds used by animals that fall within the scope of bioacoustics include a wide range of frequencies and media, and are often not "sound"in the narrow sense of the word (i.e.compression wavesthat propagate throughairand are detectable by the humanear).Katydid crickets,for example, communicate by sounds with frequencies higher than 100kHz,far into the ultrasound range.[11]Lower, but still in ultrasound, are sounds used bybatsforecholocation.A segmented marine wormLeocratides kimuraorumproduces one of the loudest popping sounds in the ocean at 157 dB, frequencies 1–100 kHz, similar to thesnapping shrimps.[12][13]On the other side of the frequency spectrum are low frequency-vibrations, often not detected byhearingorgans, but with other, less specialized sense organs. The examples includeground vibrationsproduced byelephantswhose principal frequency component is around 15 Hz, and low- to medium-frequency substrate-borne vibrations used by mostinsectorders.[14]Many animal sounds, however, do fall within the frequency range detectable by a human ear, between 20 and 20,000 Hz.[15]Mechanisms for sound production and detection are just as diverse as the signals themselves.
Plant sounds
editIn a series of scientific journal articles published between 2013 and 2016,Monica Gaglianoof theUniversity of Western Australiaextended the science to includeplant bioacoustics.[16]
See also
edit- Acoustic ecology
- Acoustical oceanography
- Animal communication
- Animal language
- Anthropophony
- Biomusic
- Biophony
- Diffusion (acoustics)
- Field recording
- Frog hearing and communication
- List of animal sounds
- List of Bioacoustics Software
- Music therapy
- Natural sounds
- Soundscape ecology
- Underwater acoustics
- Vocal learning
- Whale sound
- Zoomusicology
References
edit- ^"Bioacoustics - the International Journal of Animal Sound and its Recording".Taylor & Francis.Retrieved31 July2012.
- ^Medwin H. & Clay C.S. (1998).Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography,Academic Press
- ^abSimmonds J. & MacLennan D. (2005).Fisheries Acoustics: Theory and Practice,second edition.Blackwell
- ^Hill, Peggy S.M.; Wessel, Andreas (2016)."Biotremology".Current Biology.26(5): R187–R191.doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.01.054.PMID26954435.
- ^Kočar T. (2004).Kot listja in kobilic(As many as leaves and grasshoppers).GEA,October 2004.Mladinska knjiga,Ljubljana(in Slovene)
- ^Glen Wever, Ernest (2008)."Sound reception: Evidence of hearing and communication in insects".Britannica online.Retrieved2008-09-25.
- ^Sueur J.; Pavoine S.; Hamerlynck O.; Duvail S. (December 30, 2008). Reby, David (ed.)."Rapid Acoustic Survey for Biodiversity Appraisal".PLoS ONE.3(12): e4065.Bibcode:2008PLoSO...3.4065S.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004065.PMC2605254.PMID19115006.
- ^Tyack, P. L. (2001-01-01),"Bioacoustics",in Steele, John H. (ed.),Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences (Second Edition),Oxford: Academic Press, pp. 357–363,doi:10.1016/b978-012374473-9.00436-7,ISBN978-0-12-374473-9,retrieved2022-06-17
- ^Rodrigues, Meghie (13 January 2024). "The song of a missing bird may help scientists find it". The Science Life.Science News.p. 4.
- ^M. Pourhomayoun, P. Dugan, M. Popescu, and C. Clark, “Bioacoustic Signal Classification Based on Continuous Region Features, Grid Masking Features and Artificial Neural Network,” International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), 2013.
- ^Mason, A.C.; Morris, G.K.; Wall, P. (1991). "High Ultrasonic Hearing and Tympanal Slit Function in Rainforest Katydids".Naturwissenschaften.78(8): 365–367.Bibcode:1991NW.....78..365M.doi:10.1007/bf01131611.S2CID40255816.
- ^Goto, Ryutaro; Hirabayashi, Isao; Palmer, A. Richard (2019-07-08)."Remarkably loud snaps during mouth-fighting by a sponge-dwelling worm".Current Biology.29(13): R617–R618.doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.05.047.ISSN0960-9822.PMID31287974.
- ^Saplakoglu 2019-07-16T15:48:02Z, Yasemin (16 July 2019)."Tiny Fighting Worms Make One of the Loudest Sounds in the Ocean".livescience.Retrieved2019-12-28.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^Virant-Doberlet, M.; Čokl, A. (2004)."Vibrational communication in insects".Neotropical Entomology.33(2): 121–134.doi:10.1590/s1519-566x2004000200001.
- ^Mikula, P.; Valcu, M.; Brumm, H.; Bulla, M.; Forstmeier, W.; Petrusková, T.; Kempenaers, B. & Albrecht, T. (2021)."A global analysis of song frequency in passerines provides no support for the acoustic adaptation hypothesis but suggests a role for sexual selection".Ecology Letters.24(3): 477–486.doi:10.1111/ele.13662.PMID33314573.
- ^"Plant Behavior & Cognition | Monica Gagliano | Scientific Research".monicagagliano.Retrieved26 December2016.[title missing]
Further reading
edit- Ewing A.W. (1989):Arthropod bioacoustics: Neurobiology and behaviour.Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.ISBN0-7486-0148-1
- Fletcher N. (2007):Animal Bioacoustics.IN: Rossing T.D. (ed.):Springer Handbook of Acoustics,Springer.ISBN978-0-387-33633-6
External links
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- ASA Animal Bioacoustics Technical Committee
- BioAcoustica:Wildlife Sounds Database
- The British Library Sound Archivehas 150,000 recordings of over 10,000 species.
- International Bioacoustics Councillinks to many bioacoustics resources.
- Borror Laboratory of Bioacousticsat The Ohio State University has a large archive of animal sound recordings.
- Listen to NatureArchived2016-09-22 at theWayback Machine400 examples of animal songs and calls
- Wildlife Sound Recording Society
- Bioacoustic Research Programat theCornell Lab of Ornithologydistributes a number of different free bioacoustics synthesis & analysis programs.
- Macaulay Libraryat theCornell Lab of Ornithologyis the world's largest collection of animal sounds and associated video.
- Xeno-cantoA collection of bird vocalizations from around the world.