SGER: Cellular Telephone Playback in Bioacoustic Experiments

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Costly effort is spent each year on wildlife population surveys performed through call-and-response. The population of Spotted Owls for example, an endangered species, is estimated by such method in California and other states. An automated system leveraging cellular telephones as remote audio transport offers the potential to greatly automate the process of call-and-response survey. This study is investigating the potential of cellular-grade communication in playback experiment results and is comparing its performance with that of direct human calls or by high quality broadcast audio equipment. The experiments, conducted in the Yale-Myers Forest in northeastern CT, evaluate the behavioral response of mobbing birds to squirrel and great-horned owl calls originating from cellular telephone. Success of this work will enable better monitoring of endangered and threatened species and enhance our knowledge of biodiversity.