Soundscape Ecology
BIOLOGICAL, GEOPHYSICAL, AND MAN-MADE SOUNDS
The world is awash with sounds. Think about all the sounds you encounter when outdoors. There are the sounds of birds, of wind, of children, of trains, planes, and automobiles . . . . Now think also of all the other things that make sound in the many places of our earth. High on a mountain outcrop, deep in the dark recesses of the sea, packed in the street canyons of New York City, and out in the open spaces of our wildlands.
City sounds differ from country sounds. And country sounds differ from forest sounds. And so on. But then, the sounds of New York City differ from say, those in Salt Lake City. Furthermore, there are some sounds that may be distinctive to a particular city. Take the L Train in Chicago, for instance.
These patterns hold true in the natural world, as well. A tropical rain forest sounds different than a boreal forest because of all the factors that drive sound energy in those places. First, there are the biological sounds of organisms such as birds, insects, primates, bats, etc. Then there are the sounds related to the geophysical aspects of landscapes. These include wind, rain, moving water, thunder, etc. And lastly, there are the inevitable sounds of man's activities, such as airplanes, snowmobiles, a falling axe, chainsaws, mountain bikes, etc.
SOUNDSCAPES
Researchers use the term, soundscape, to describe the sum total of sounds in a given landscape. The many sound components of the soundscape are classified into three major classes: biophony, geophony, and anthrophony (also referred to as anthropophony).
Biophony is the sound of the biological realm--those myriad audible communications of biological organisms. Geophony is the sound of the wind and the rain--and all other audible expressions of the geophysical. Lastly, the hubbub of human existence is defined as anthrophony.
The hum of the ever-present combustion engine changes natural soundscapes. It overpowers natural sounds. Species respond in a multitude of ways. Some will alter their vocalizing frequency to avoid competing with urban noise. Some species abandon territories in noisy environments.
But soundscapes studies go far beyond the study of noise effects on species. Soundscapes are a reflection of the quality of habitat available to species. And not just to the vocalizing ones. Food webs are wildly connected and those species that vocalize can tell us a lot about a place even when the majority of species don't frequently call or don't vocalize at all (i.e., plants, soil organisms, reptiles).
Just as available ecological niches are "filled" by species throughout our landscapes, so too are the acoustic niches of our soundscapes. And just as ecological niches are emptied through human impacts and climate change, we find the same process occurring in soundscapes. Species "fall out"--disappear one-by-one--and the soundscape becomes ever quiet. Rachel Carson invoked changes in soundscape to support her argument against DDT in her landmark environmental classic, Silent Spring.
The world is awash with sounds. Think about all the sounds you encounter when outdoors. There are the sounds of birds, of wind, of children, of trains, planes, and automobiles . . . . Now think also of all the other things that make sound in the many places of our earth. High on a mountain outcrop, deep in the dark recesses of the sea, packed in the street canyons of New York City, and out in the open spaces of our wildlands.
City sounds differ from country sounds. And country sounds differ from forest sounds. And so on. But then, the sounds of New York City differ from say, those in Salt Lake City. Furthermore, there are some sounds that may be distinctive to a particular city. Take the L Train in Chicago, for instance.
These patterns hold true in the natural world, as well. A tropical rain forest sounds different than a boreal forest because of all the factors that drive sound energy in those places. First, there are the biological sounds of organisms such as birds, insects, primates, bats, etc. Then there are the sounds related to the geophysical aspects of landscapes. These include wind, rain, moving water, thunder, etc. And lastly, there are the inevitable sounds of man's activities, such as airplanes, snowmobiles, a falling axe, chainsaws, mountain bikes, etc.
SOUNDSCAPES
Researchers use the term, soundscape, to describe the sum total of sounds in a given landscape. The many sound components of the soundscape are classified into three major classes: biophony, geophony, and anthrophony (also referred to as anthropophony).
Biophony is the sound of the biological realm--those myriad audible communications of biological organisms. Geophony is the sound of the wind and the rain--and all other audible expressions of the geophysical. Lastly, the hubbub of human existence is defined as anthrophony.
The hum of the ever-present combustion engine changes natural soundscapes. It overpowers natural sounds. Species respond in a multitude of ways. Some will alter their vocalizing frequency to avoid competing with urban noise. Some species abandon territories in noisy environments.
But soundscapes studies go far beyond the study of noise effects on species. Soundscapes are a reflection of the quality of habitat available to species. And not just to the vocalizing ones. Food webs are wildly connected and those species that vocalize can tell us a lot about a place even when the majority of species don't frequently call or don't vocalize at all (i.e., plants, soil organisms, reptiles).
Just as available ecological niches are "filled" by species throughout our landscapes, so too are the acoustic niches of our soundscapes. And just as ecological niches are emptied through human impacts and climate change, we find the same process occurring in soundscapes. Species "fall out"--disappear one-by-one--and the soundscape becomes ever quiet. Rachel Carson invoked changes in soundscape to support her argument against DDT in her landmark environmental classic, Silent Spring.
Links:
Where the Wild Things Aren’t: The Sound of Extinction, Natasha Farrah
Aldo Leopold’s field notes score a lost “soundscape”, Terry Devitt
Where the Wild Things Aren’t: The Sound of Extinction, Natasha Farrah
Aldo Leopold’s field notes score a lost “soundscape”, Terry Devitt
