Bioacoustic measurements complement visual biodiversity surveys: preliminary evidence from four shallow marine habitats

Marine ecology progress series

, Janina Seemann¹  , Andrew H. Altieri¹  *, Matthew B. Ogburn²  , Simon J. Brandl²  Erica Staaterman²  , Ross Whippo²  , Michael Goodison²  , J. Emmett Duffy² 

[1]Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, MRC 106, Washington, DC 20013, USA

[2]Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, MRC 106, Washington, DC 20013, USA. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 647 Contees Wharf Road, Edgewater, MD 20137, USA

关键词: Bioacoustics;    Biodiversity;    Species richness;    Marine habitats;    Toadfish;   

DOI  :  10.3354/meps12188

学科分类：海洋学与技术

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

New tools, such as passive acoustic monitoring, can be helpful for measuring levels of biodiversity in habitats that are otherwise difficult to sample. Here, we tested the utility of acoustic measurements in shallow coastal waters by conducting short-term simultaneous bioacoustic and biodiversity surveys in 4 habitat types on the Caribbean coast of Panama: mangrove, reef, seagrass, and sand. Acoustic measurements in the ‘low band’ (<1000 Hz) were positively correlated with cryptic fish richness and abundance, but this band was dominated by the calls of a single species, the Bocon toadfish. Toadfish calls masked other fish sounds and confounded results from recently developed eco-acoustic indices such as acoustic entropy and acoustic complexity. The ‘high band’ (3000-10000 Hz), largely indicative of snapping-shrimp sound production, did not differ significantly across habitat types and was not correlated to biodiversity measurements. Our study demonstrates that bioacoustic surveys can help scientists detect certain cryptic, soniferous species, justifying their use in tandem with traditional biodiversity surveys. Additional research is needed in the marine environment to validate the utility of newer eco-acoustic indices.

【 授权许可】

Unknown