Christopher W. Clark, Ph.D. - US grants

Funding for software development for bioacousitc research is requested. A diverse research group will perform bioacoustic research in such areas as bird vocalizations, elephant vocalizations, and human linguistics. A common theme found in the proposals is the analysis of the structure of acoustic signals. The advances proposed include: real-time display of the signals together with audio reproduction, signal analysis, editing capability and interchangeable modules capable of handling the various modes of differing projects.

This Proposal was submitted to the National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP) Broad Agency Announcement 10-024 titled "Marine Mammal Detection and Monitoring" and selected for funding by NSF.

The PI's request funding to integrate existing technologies, namely the Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP) marine autonomous recording unit ("Pop-Up") hardware, and detection, classification, and localization (DCL) software into a wave-powered glider towing a small array. An autonomous marine mammal monitoring system will be developed that includes a broadband satellite communications system that would be capable of transmitting detection, classification, and localization data in near real-time to an on-ship or onshore Data Management and Communications (DMAC) receiver.

Broader Impacts:

Successful development of the proposed system has the potential to provide a lower cost method for monitoring marine mammals in areas that would otherwise not be surveyed. Monitoring and understanding the impacts of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals is becoming more important as human induced sound in the marine environment increases. The system could potentially lower the cost of monitoring because it will not require a local ship for its deployment or retrieval and it reduces the steps needed for data analyses by broadcasting data over the Satcom link and providing initial DCL measures prior to human data processing. The potential for transferring data via the broadband satellite link will be a huge boon for the community as currently limited bandwidth inhibits progress in DCL.

Many animals produce alarm calls in response to danger. Recent research suggests that these important calls contain a previously-unsuspected amount of information about the specific type of danger (e.g. predator on the ground, hawk perched, flying hawk, threat level). In addition, it now appears that many different species of birds and mammals participate in complex communication networks that function as "distant early warning" systems about shared threats. This research project will focus on how distant early warning systems of animals work. The project will develop arrays of extremely sensitive microphones so that the acoustic landscapes of natural habitats can be monitored. The researchers will introduce live hawks of different types and extremely realistic robotic predators into the experimental habitats. This research will generate important information about natural distant early warning systems: How fast and how far do alarm calls spread in natural landscapes? How is information about threat type and threat level encoded in the alarm calls? Do all species of birds and mammals participate equally in these communication networks? In addition to novel information on how natural distant early warning systems work, this innovative project will generate new analytical tools for dealing with complex data about how information spreads in space and time. Resources generated during the project will be made freely available through the Macaulay Library (the world's largest repository of natural sounds) at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (http://macaulaylibrary.org). This project will also include a large component of cross-training and mentoring of students in many STEM fields. In addition, the project will dovetail into the well-developed existing infrastructure for public education through Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology Outreach program, The University of Montana's SpectrUM (an interactive science center), The Montana Natural History Center, and several other activities. Together these activities will reach many thousands of people per year.