Have You Heard of Bioacoustics?
You’ve probably heard of the word “acoustics” before, whether that be by talking to a friend, hearing your physics teacher drone on about it, or maybe you read about the topic online. However, not many people are as familiar with bioacoustics, which can play a great role in assessing the health of our ecosystems.
Little Brown Bats are one of the many species that rely on echolocation. They can be found in Ontario! Image by meg2day on iNaturalist, some rights reserved.
Bioacoustics is the study of the production, transmission, and reception of sounds produced by or affecting living organisms. But why is it necessary? Why not focus on the things we can see in nature, rather than the things we can hear? After all, humans are a species that rely quite heavily on their sense of sight. However, this is not the case for all species. There is a shockingly large amount of organisms that rely more on sound, rather than sight, to navigate their environment and reproduce.
Spring Peepers begin mating in the early spring and have a distinct chirp as their mating call. Image by billygnature on iNaturalist, some rights reserved.
One of the most well-known examples of this is echolocation, a process which bats, whales, and dolphins use to gain information about their environment. Many species use echolocation to their advantage by emitting sound waves that bounce off of surrounding objects , which creates an echo that the species can use to determine the distance between itself and the object, as well as the object’s size. Echolocation’s influence isn’t just exclusive to the animals that use it for wayfinding, as many species of moths listen to bat echolocation to determine where the bat is heading and avoid being caught. One moth even “jams” the bat’s echolocation, by creating its own clicks that mess with the bat’s sound waves. Sound is not only a useful tool to navigate environments, many animals also use sound to procreate. A very notable example of this is bird calls, which are used to call for mates, or alert other birds of its presence.
It is important that we, as humans, study sound to determine the health of our surrounding ecosystems because we are the ones who are damaging it the most with our own sounds. Noise pollution can disrupt the mating calls of the birds, the warning vocals used to tell others about an incoming predator, and the echolocation abilities of bats, whales, and dolphins. Additionally, climate change increases the temperature of environments, which can affect when a species is born or begins mating, and can throw the biophony, the collective sounds that organisms create in their environment, out of sync. Although, by studying these species and understanding their perspectives, we can find more opportunities to take positive actions.
What are those positive actions that we can do to prevent the deterioration of our natural soundscape? The best way is to take part in citizen science projects. Citizen science is research conducted by the general public for a scientific cause, which means you don’t need to be a professional scientist to support bioacoustics research! For example, using the free iNaturalist app, volunteers can submit recorded sounds or photos of local wild species to help create range maps and support research for conservation. Events such as the City Nature Challenge each spring encourage more observers to get involved. Another thing you can do is to simply appreciate the presence of bioacoustics all around us. Next time you’re outside, and you hear an animal make a noise, take a moment to admire it.
Bioacoustics is a field of science that may not be well-recognized or well-known, but if more people become aware of it, we as a society can realize that there is just as much value in listening with our ears as there is in looking with our eyes.
References
Mitchell, A. (2022). Bioacoustics: What nature’s sounds can tell us about the health of our world. Canadian Geographic. https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/bioacoustics-what-natures-sounds-can-tell-us-about-the-health-of-our-world.
Yong, E. (2022). An immense world: How animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us. Knopf Canada.
Written and researched by Noah Leach. Noah is a Grade 11 student who enjoys hiking, the environment, and all things Biology. He is completing a co-operative program placement with EcoSpark this spring for his high school in Toronto District School Board.
