"Soundscape Ecology"

Posted by Julie Ann Perkins on March 12, 2011 at 11:01pm

I found this call to action encouraging - a step toward really listening to place, and acknowledging the vital contribution that sound plays in the web of life. Of course, the need for study of anthropogenic noise is also critical, under the ocean and on the land. How many species are threatened by sound pollution?

Scientists Tune In To The 'Voices Of The Landscape'  by Richard Harris March 12, 2011

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/12/134425597/scientists-tune-in-to-the-voices-of-the-landscape

There's nothing new about studying animal sounds; biologists have been doing that for centuries. After all, if you want to understand birds, you need to understand how they communicate.

But Bryan Pijanowski is now asking his colleagues to take a huge step back and, metaphorically speaking, listen not just to the trees, but to the forest.

"We're trying to understand how sounds can be used as measures of ecosystem health," says Pijanowski, who teaches in the department of forestry and natural resources at Purdue University.

He and some colleagues have written a call to action in the journal BioScience. It's time, they say, to formalize the study of "soundscape ecology." ....more

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Tags: ecology, habitat, place, sound
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  • Lynn Marie Hynes April 3, 2011 at 4:34am

    Julie, I just finished listening to NPR and an interview with Katy Payne, an acoustical biologist who recently wrote Silent Thunder.  She said that nature is her church, and I can understand why as I listen to the sounds of the whales and elephats in the wild.  You can listen at:  onbeing.org.

     

    Also, here is a bit more about how her work with animals influences what it is to be human.  Very provocative!

    http://acousticbiologistkatypayne.webs.com/

     

    • Julie Ann Perkins > Lynn Marie Hynes April 11, 2011 at 12:25pm

      Thank you for the link, Lynn - I look forward to an immersion in Katy Payne's work and the sounds at onbeing.org.

      I wonder what the sounds from the movement of magma and the tectonic plates sound like, deep under the earth's crust...  and I just read about the newly emerging science of paleoseismology.  more, soon!

    • Lynn Marie Hynes > Julie Ann Perkins April 11, 2011 at 12:39pm
      Julie, I am not sure if you are interested in the sounds of nature, but there is a beautiful book called TheHealing Sounds from the Malaysian Rainforest by Marina Roseman .  The book explores sound in Temiar healing performances.  I like the way the book transcends the typical scientific, anthropologcial view of indigenous culture.
    • Julie Ann Perkins > Lynn Marie Hynes April 11, 2011 at 12:45pm
      The Healing Sounds from the Malaysian Rainforest sounds like a real treasure! Thank you, and for pointing out the use of sound in healing performances...
  • Xak (Zach) Grossman March 21, 2011 at 7:16pm

    I have recently started to actively recognize the sound of electricity and various appliances that buzz throughout a household constantly.  There is virtually no escaping the electric hum of a refrigerator, or dishwasher, or even a clock.  Outside, it's the same with cars, lawn mowers, planes, etc.  

     

    Agreed that there is something to be said about fully recognizing the different noises that we no longer listen to. This is an interesting topic and could certainly use more formal study.  

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