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SUMMARY:Soundscape ecology: what sound can tell us about ecological functi
 oning - Rachel Buxton\, Colorado State University
DTSTART:20170706T090000Z
DTEND:20170706T100000Z
UID:TALK73133@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Claire Waluda
DESCRIPTION:Many organisms (including humans) depend on sound for communic
 ation\, predator/prey detection\, and navigation.  Thus\, the intrusion of
  anthropogenic noise has consequences\, masking natural sounds\, altering 
 wildlife behavior\, physiology\, and distribution and increasing stress an
 d annoyance in humans.  My research focuses on the science of sound in a l
 andscape\, examining the distribution and impact of noise pollution and mo
 nitoring biodiversity using acoustic recordings. Using thousands of hours 
 of acoustic recordings and continental-scale sound models I examined the l
 evel and drivers of noise in U.S. protected areas.  I found that noise pol
 lution was pervasive\, doubling background sound levels in 63% of U.S. pro
 tected area units and causing a ten-fold or greater increase in 21%\, surp
 assing levels known to interfere with human visitor experience and disrupt
  wildlife.  The dominant noise sources were aircraft and automobiles\, whi
 le the loudest noises were emitted from trains and watercraft.  Using a sp
 atial planning approach\, I am working to combine this information to buil
 d a framework for a national noise mitigation strategy.  Extracting meanin
 gful biological information from large-scale acoustic recordings can be pr
 oblematic given the volume of data\, with many approaches being prohibitiv
 ely labor intensive and time consuming.  Thus\, I test the utility of bioa
 coustics indices\, which are increasingly used to rapidly characterize bio
 logical communities.  I reviewed the acoustic index literature\, analyzing
  the efficacy of different indices to characterize bioacoustic activity\, 
 species richness\, functional diversity\, and landscape attributes.  I the
 n implemented a subset of the most effective indices on acoustic data coll
 ected at over 50 sites in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats across the
  continental U.S.  I found that bioacoustics indices reflect the richness 
 of species vocalizing in acoustic recordings and the abundance of common a
 vian species song.  Thus\, bioacoustics indices and large-scale recordings
  offer a powerful tool\, with the potential to monitor the dynamics of bio
 diversity and ecological communities across enormous spatial-temporal scal
 es. 
LOCATION:British Antarctic Survey\, Room 330B
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