OOS 42-1 - Ecology and animal culture resonate in conservation bioacoustics

Habitat characteristics determine where and when species can be found and protected, but other aspects of animal life are just as important for biodiversity conservation. One must ask at what level do we want to conserve biodiversity? Population structure and evolutionary processes may add subtleties in determining what is an effective conservation plan. Behavioral ecology and social learning play important roles in explaining patterns of animal distribution and phenology. For instance, animal migratory routes, diet composition and sexual displays are affected by individual decisions heavily influenced by social learning and aspects of their physical habitat and interspecific interactions within a community. Cultural differences among groups of animals may accelerate or hinder population structure and cladogenesis. These cultural aspects of animal decision making have received more interest recently and as the dynamics of the planet shift, cultural dynamics will shift accordingly. Seasonal differences in habitat suitability and prey distribution due to climate change may be hard to track but predator detection using remote acoustic sensing technology help us understand these dynamics and better inform conservation actions. Conservation bioacoustics aims to understand patterns of sound usage within and among species in different time-space scales. Technological advancements in data collection and interpretation have enabled us to probe and eavesdrop on entire landscapes, even on remote habitats, listening to cryptic and rare species within communities. We are able to learn about the individual lives of animals by listening to their acoustic world without imposing our presence to do so, using autonomous platforms, from above, below, and attached to the animals themselves. Once we find a way to share and link these platforms together, we will have a much better sense of how sound science can be used to provide knowledge about the biological processes that sustain life on Earth. All sound producing animals provide excellent opportunities to exemplify how ecology and animal culture must be observed when there is demand for conservation. Nonetheless, I will focus my talk on a few model species that have been studied at the EcoAcoustic Research Hub (EAR Hub, Brazil) along with our collaborators around the world.