This open-access book empowers its readers to explore the acoustic world of animals. By listening to the sounds of nature, we can study animal behavior, distribution, and demographics; their habitat characteristics and needs; and the effects of noise. Sound recording is an efficient and affordable tool, independent of daylight and weather; and recorders may be left in place for many months at a time, continuously collecting data on animals and their environment. This book builds the skills and knowledge necessary to collect and interpret acoustic data from terrestrial and marine environments. Beginning with a history of sound recording, the chapters provide an overview of off-the-shelf recording equipment and analysis tools (including automated signal detectors and statistical methods); audiometric methods; acoustic terminology, quantities, and units; sound propagation in air and under water; soundscapes of terrestrial and marine habitats; animal acoustic and vibrational communication; echolocation; and the effects of noise. This book will be useful to students and researchers of animal ecology who wish to add acoustics to their toolbox, as well as to environmental managers in industry and government.

This open-access book empowers its readers to explore the acoustic world of animals. By listening to the sounds of nature, we can study animal behavior, distribution, and demographics; their habitat characteristics and needs; and the effects of noise. Sound recording is an efficient and affordable tool, independent of daylight and weather; and recorders may be left in place for many months at a time, continuously collecting data on animals and their environment. This book builds the skills and knowledge necessary to collect and interpret acoustic data from terrestrial and marine environments. Beginning with a history of sound recording, the chapters provide an overview of off-the-shelf recording equipment and analysis tools (including automated signal detectors and statistical methods); audiometric methods; acoustic terminology, quantities, and units; sound propagation in air and under water; soundscapes of terrestrial and marine habitats; animal acoustic and vibrational communication; echolocation; and the effects of noise. This book will be useful to students and researchers of animal ecology who wish to add acoustics to their toolbox, as well as to environmental managers in industry and government.

In this landmark new work, the major authorities in the field from around the world present a wealth of research data, coverage of regulatory issues, and thinking about the effects of man-made noise on marine mammals, turtles, amphibians, fishes, and invertebrates. The various themes of the book were chosen to cover the wide range of basic and cutting edge information on this topic. They include the hearing abilities of aquatic animals; communication by means of underwater sound; the description of aquatic soundscapes; different sound sources and their characteristics; the effects of sound on behavior; and assessing, mitigating, and monitoring the effects of aquatic noise. Emphasis is on the cross-fertilization of ideas and findings across species and noise sources. With over 140 contributions from leading researchers, the sources of underwater sound and their effects are discussed in detail.

There are growing concerns about the decline of biodiversity due to human activities, such as infrastructure development and resource extraction. These activities, including coal mining and stream diversion, threaten ecosystems and wildlife significantly. Impact of Societal Development and Infrastructure on Biodiversity Decline is a book that examines these issues comprehensively. It provides insights into the complexities of biodiversity conservation amidst rapid societal development. This book is a timely solution for academics, researchers, and policymakers seeking to understand and mitigate the impacts of such activities on biodiversity. The book explores the ecological and biodiversity studies in coal mining areas through a detailed case studies in regions with major coal industries. It delves into the loss of biodiversity due to stream diversion, providing a thorough analysis of the ecological risks and costs involved. The book proposes mitigation measures to address these challenges, including impact assessments and an environmental management plan. Furthermore, it outlines a plantation program to restore biodiversity and ecosystem services, offering practical solutions for sustainable land use practices.

The study of animal communication has led to significant progress in our general understanding of motor and sensory systems, evolution, and speciation. However, one often neglected aspect is that signal exchange in every modality is constrained by noise, be it in the transmission channel or in the nervous system. This book analyses whether and how animals can cope with such constraints, and explores the implications that noise has for our understanding of animal communication. It is written by leading biologists working on different taxa including insects, fish, amphibians, lizards, birds, and mammals. In addition to this broad taxonomic approach, the chapters also cover a wide array of research disciplines: from the mechanisms of signal production and perception, to the behavioural ecology of signalling, the evolution of animal communication, and conservation issues. This volume promotes the integration of the knowledge gained by the diverse approaches to the study of animal communication and, at the same time, highlights particularly interesting fields of current and future research.

In this book in the Animal Behavior series, discover how animals communicate through sight, sound and smell.

"What messages do animals send to each other using sound? How can we decipher them? What lessons might these messages offer for understanding the origins and workings of our own communication? Scientists who study bioacoustics try and answer these questions, using physiology, animal behavior, and evolutionary biology to understand how and why animals communicate via sound. In this book, Nicholas Mathevon offers readers an accessible overview of the field of bioacoustics, from the mechanisms of sound to its complex social function. Comprising short, accessible chapters, A Sound Journey explores how sound travels underwater, the act of hearing, and how animals use sounds inaudible to humans. Mathevon also shows how animals use sound to communicate in various circumstances, including parent-offspring relationships, conflict, expressions of emotion, and complex socialization. The study of acoustic communication enables a better understanding of the complexities of animal behavior, and the book uses examples from throughout the animal kingdom to illustrate how discoveries in bioacoustics have revealed various species' behaviors. In the final chapters, Mathevon explores animal "language" and the various philosophical and biological implications of this topic, both for various wild and domesticated species and for our understanding of how human communication systems developed"--