BioSoundSCape

Connecting acoustics and remote sensing to study habitat-animal diversity across environmental gradients

Presenter: Matthew Clark

Presenter Status: Faculty

Academic Year: 22-23

Semester: Spring

Department: Geography, Environment, & Planning

Funding Source/Sponsor: Other

Other Funding Source/Program: NASA

President's Strategic Plan Goal: Sustainability and Environmental Inquiry

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1K9JZZN49Txmx1lfA3zEofouxSHalEe4u

Abstract:
This new project based in the Cape Region of South Africa develops a novel, generalizable and species agnostic approach to connect acoustic diversity to animal richness and habitat diversity, as measured by advanced remote sensing technology developed by NASA. In two field campaigns, we will deploy a network of independent autonomous recording units (AudioMoths) designed to sample sites across land cover types, fire history and anthropogenic disturbance gradients, along with coincident in situ bird and frog point count measurements conducted by local volunteer ecologists with experience in species identification. With these in situ data and NASA airborne spectral (AVIRIS-NG) and structural (LVIS) measurements collected during an umbrella multi-team campaign, the project will answer the following questions: 1) What is the relationship among measures of acoustic, spectral and structural diversity and how do those relationships change across spatial scales and vegetation types? and, 2) How do anthropogenic and natural disturbance affect acoustic diversity and habitat quality?