Community Bioacoustics: Studying Acoustic Community Structure for Ecological and Conservation Insights

Abstract

The diversity of animal acoustic signals has evolved due to multiple ecological processes, both biotic and abiotic. At the level of communities of signaling animals, these processes may lead to diverse outcomes, including partitioning of acoustic signals along multiple axes (divergent signal parameters, signaling locations, and timing). Acoustic data provides information on the organization, diversity and dynamics of an acoustic community, and thus enables study of ecological change and turnover in a non-intrusive way. In this review, we lay out how community bioacoustics (the study of acoustic community structure and dynamics), has value in ecological monitoring and conservation of diverse landscapes and taxa. First, we review the concepts of signal space, signal partitioning and their effects on the structure of acoustic communities. Next, we highlight how spatiotemporal ecological change is reflected in acoustic community structure, and the potential this presents in monitoring and conservation. As passive acoustic monitoring gains popularity worldwide, we propose that the analytical framework of community bioacoustics has promise in studying the response of entire suites of species (from insects to large whales) to rapid anthropogenic change.

Satellite remote sensing of environmental variables can predict acoustic activity of an orthopteran assemblage

“…Many animals use acoustic signaling as their principal form of communication ( Bradbury & Vehrencamp, 2011 ), contributing to the biotic component of a soundscape ( Pijanowski et al, 2011 ). Ecological questions regarding behavior, seasonal activity, or response to external factors at different ecological and temporal scales of acoustic communities can be addressed with acoustic monitoring ( Sugai et al, 2019 ; Gottesman et al, 2021 ; Chhaya et al, 2021 ); such monitoring can be with in-person recording in the field ( Drewry & Rand, 1983 ; Diwakar & Balakrishnan, 2007a ) or with automatic, passive recording ( Deichmann et al, 2018 ). Favored by the increasing access to new recording technologies and computational power, passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has become one of the trending methods to obtain environmental recordings ( Riede, 2018 ; Sugai et al, 2019 ).…”

Fish acoustic community structure in Neptune seagrass meadows across the Mediterranean basin

“…Signal divergence minimizes competitive overlap along multiple axes. This can include (i) divergent signal parameters, (ii) temporal, and (iii) spatial segregation in signalling activity (Chhaya et al, 2021) Signal space The range of acoustic resources exploited by the whole acoustic community, where each species occupies a specific volume (Chhaya et al, 2021) matched the 'quiet noise window' which characterized the soundscape of their preferred habitats (Lugli, Yan & Fine, 2003;Amorim et al, 2018). These findings supported the AAH concept, and the authors proposed that signals might evolve to be effective within local environmental constraints (Lugli, Yan & Fine, 2003;Amorim et al, 2018).…”

“…The organization of an acoustic community, including species composition, distribution of species in the signal space and spatial and temporal organization of signalling species (Chhaya et al, 2021) Acoustic resources Resource partitioning, in traditional ecology, is the division of limited resources by species to help avoid competition. In acoustic communities, acoustic resources refers to (i) diel timing of calling activity, (ii) call spectral features, and (iii) call temporal features…”

“…Acoustic data provides information on the organization, diversity and dynamics of a community, and thus enable the study of ecological changes and turnover in a non‐intrusive way (Sugai & Llusia, 2019; Mooney et al, 2020; Chhaya et al, 2021). This is particularly important considering the current extinction crisis, and the urgent need to document biodiversity worldwide (Sugai & Llusia, 2019).…”

“…Aggregation of species that produce sounds for communication and compete for the allocation of acoustic resources in a specific habitat (Mönkkönen, Helle & Soppela, 1990;Farina & James, 2016). As with an ecological community, acoustic communities may be defined at different spatial and taxonomic scales (Chhaya et al, 2021) Acoustic diversity Concept adapted from traditional ecology; number and relative abundance of sound types found in a given biological organization. Acoustic diversity can be measured by applying traditional diversity indexes (e.g.…”