Although bioacoustics cannot completely replace ecological fieldwork, it can provide large amounts of data that would be prohibitively expensive to collect simply by sending scientists to remote locations for long periods of time. When using bioacoustic instruments, researchers must return to collect data and change batteries, but otherwise the technology can work without interruption for years. “Sampling 10, 100, [or] 1,000 sound recorders is much easier than training 10, 100, 1,000 people to go into the forest at the same time,” says Donoso.
“The need for this kind of rigorous assessment is huge. Certain field approaches are never cost-effective,” said The Nature Conservancy’s chief scientist and conservation director for Asia Pacific. Eddie Game, who was not involved in the new study, agrees. . “That would be difficult even in relatively well-studied sites, but certainly in tropical forest environments where species diversity is so great. Really difficult. ”
The limitation, of course, is that while birds, insects, and frogs make very loud noises, many species do not make sounds. The microphone has difficulty picking up the presence of butterflies and snakes.
However, no one claims that bioacoustics alone can quantify forest biodiversity. Similar to the current experiment, bioacoustics research will be combined with the use of cameras, field researchers, and DNA collection. While this team collected DNA directly from insects caught in light traps, other teams may collect environmental DNA, or eDNA, left behind by animals in the soil, air, and water. In June, for example, another team showed how filters at air quality observatories can be used to identify wind-borne DNA. In the future, ecologists may be able to sample forest soil to understand what animals move through the area. But while bioacoustics can continuously monitor species, and eDNA can record clues about which species have crossed a particular lawn, we have no idea how those species are interacting, e.g. Only ecologists can observe who is hunting whom, and which types of birds are competing with other birds.
Bioacoustic data from a new study suggests that Ecuador’s forests can recover beautifully even after small-scale pastures and cocoa plantations are abandoned. For example, researchers have already discovered striped cuckoos in 30-year-old restoration forests. “Even our expert collaborators were surprised that so-called native species were colonizing the recovery forest,” says Müller. “Compared to Europe, they do it very quickly. So even after 40, 50 years, for example, it’s no longer a completely virgin forest. But most of these very rare species , they can use this as a habitat and thereby expand their population.”
This technology can also help monitor forest recovery. For example, check whether the government is actually recovering the areas it claims. Satellite images show that new trees have been planted, but they are not evidence of a healthy ecosystem or biodiversity. “I think any ecologist will tell you that trees don’t create forest ecosystems,” Game says. Hear a cacophony of birds, insects and frogs, a complex mix of rainforest species thriving.
“I think we’re going to continue to learn a lot more about what sound can tell us about the environment,” says Game, who compares bioacoustics to that of NASA. . Landsat program, which made satellite imagery available to the scientific community and led to important research on climate change and wildfire damage. “It fundamentally changed the way we look at the planet, and sound has similar potential,” he says.
