Sounds produced by the environment may enable assessment as to the overall health of an ecosystem. The types of emanating environmental sounds depend on habitat type, the mosaic of habitats within the landscape, the time of day and season of year, as well as many other critical components. Patterns of acoustic signals therefore reflect the dynamics of biological, social, and physical systems within each landscape. The investigation into how acoustic patterns influence habitat quality and reflect that habitat’s ability to sustain its array of organisms is therefore of critical importance. The goals of the study are:

• Monitor acoustic signals across an urban-rural gradient
• Analyze long-term acoustic patterns in relation to land use and land cover changes
• Develop a better understanding of the complex ecological interactions critical to ecosystem function

Communication is a fundamental sense of the animal world comprising of both the emission and capture of acoustics. Sounds are used in ecology to census organisms (birds, amphibians, mammals). Signatures of sounds of human activities and ecological communications can be identified. A framework for the study and understanding of patch-level acoustic signals from a landscape is presented. This framework includes a) a taxonomy of the biological and physical characteristics of a soundscape, b) an analytical approach to quantify the components of an acoustic sample taken from the environment, c) a protocol for measurement of acoustic signals in the environment, d) a cyber-infrastructure necessary to manage numerous acoustic signals sampled from different environments, and f) a web tool to present acoustic information in near-real time from different places at different times. Our research has produced methods to characterize acoustics in human dominated ecosystems. Our findings are in three areas:

• Soundscape classification.
• Measurement of diurnal patterns of acoustics.
• Development of indices relating human and biophysical acoustics.

One of the primary reasons to develop an automated acoustic monitoring method is to be able to determine how the presence and abundance of vocal organisms varies across habitats and landscapes. The investigation of how land-cover and acoustical patterns influence habitat quality and reflect that habitat’s ability to sustain its array of organisms is of critical importance. We will perform a quantitative assessment of soundscapes, landscapes and their interactions through the development of an advanced monitoring system that will collect and classify environmental acoustics through the following objectives:

• Develop and deploy an automatic sensor-based monitoring system to survey vocal organisms in common land-cover types.
• Calibrate the sensor system data with manual recordings and traditional observations.
• Determine the relationships between land-cover and acoustic characteristics and their effects on and ability to reflect habitat composition, structure and integrity.

For further information: http://envirosonic.cevl.msu.edu

Gage and Krause met on several occasions to devise an operational protocol to perform acoustic sampling of several habitats in Sequoia National Park. This protocol included the selection of the habitats that represent the variety of soundscape characteristics within Sequoia National Park, and the timing of the recordings to maximize the amount of acoustic data gathered. Gage and Krause selected four distinct habitats in the park representing different vegetation and landscape characteristics. These were high-elevation vegetation (Shepard Saddle); oak-savanna (Sycamore Spring); riparian woodland (Buckeye Flat); and old growth forest-meadow (Crescent Meadow). The sampling design that ensued dictated that personnel make recordings at four different diurnal times (dawn, midday, dusk and night) at four different seasonal times (fall, winter, spring, and summer). These timings present a rough representation of the Park's soundscape at distinct diurnal and seasonal positions. Gage and Krause determined that a recording sample of one hour would represent the soundscape at each period.

For further information: http://envirosonic.cevl.msu.edu/seki/

Communication is a fundamental principle in the animal world and is comprised of both the emission and capture of acoustics. This research investigates monitoring systems and the associated cyber-infrastructure to measure and assess change of biological diversity in animal communities through their acoustic signaling. The development of cyberinfrastructure to automate acoustic sampling and their interpretation can yield significant scientific breakthroughs in quantification of biological survey information and will lead to on-line species identification from real time acoustic signals delivered to the desktop. The objectives were to:

• Monitor, archive and analyze automated acoustic observations from a range of habitats associated with MSU Inland Lake
• Develop new sensor technology to automate the collection of environmental acoustics and telemeter the observations over wireless networks to remote servers
• Deploy and field test Habitat Sensor Platforms and Habitat Servers to collect environmental acoustics and telemeter the observations over wireless networks to remote servers