Bioacoustics

Have you ever been woken up by birds singing early in the morning? Have you ever been to a pond and heard frogs croaking? Does the chirping of crickets remind you of warm summer nights? Have you ever wondered what a dog’s bark means?

All these sounds produced by animals are studied in the scientific field of bioacoustics.

Bioacoustics – What does nature sound like? What does bioacoustics research?

Buzzing bees, chirping crickets, singing birds, and croaking frogs – nature is full of sounds! Every habitat has its own unique soundscape. Bioacoustics is the science that deals with precisely this: it studies the sounds produced by living creatures and what they mean. In other words, bioacoustics researches how nature sounds and what we can learn about animals and their environment from these sounds.

Animal sounds often reveal a great deal to us. Many animals use sounds to “talk” to each other or to orient themselves. For example, songbirds use their singing to defend their territory and attract a mate. Bats emit high-frequency calls and use echoes to find their prey in the dark. Crickets chirp to attract females, toads croak in chorus at ponds, and bees buzz as they fly from flower to flower. Such natural sounds are often species-specific, meaning that each animal species has its own “voice,” so to speak. This allows us to recognize which animal is nearby without seeing it. A well-known example: when the cuckoo calls “cuckoo” in spring and summer, almost everyone knows immediately which bird it is – even if the shy cuckoo is well hidden in the forest.

Bioacoustics uses modern technology to make this language of nature understandable. Researchers use microphones and special recording devices to record animal voices – sometimes around the clock. One exciting method is passive acoustic monitoring: automatic recording devices (also known as “listening boxes”) are set up in the field to record everything the animals make. This makes it possible to search for animals acoustically even at night or in inaccessible areas. In this way, scientists have already gained new insights into where certain species are found, when migratory birds pass through at night, for example, or how active certain animal groups are in a given area. Bioacoustics is also often used to discover very shy or rare animals that are hardly ever seen with the naked eye – for example, by recording and identifying their calls. Sometimes animal sounds even reveal details about their behavior: certain calls from bird parents, for example, sound the alarm when danger approaches, or special sounds indicate that a group of animals is currently courting or feeding. This is how bioacousticians listen to the secrets of the animal world.

Bioacoustics combines biology and acoustics. It not only aids research, but also nature conservation: by “listening” to nature, we can identify trends—for example, whether an area is becoming more species-rich or whether certain animals are disappearing—and take targeted protective measures. And, as an added bonus, actively listening to nature even has a positive effect on us humans: natural sounds such as birdsong reduce stress and put us in a good mood. Those who listen attentively to nature’s concert develop a deeper connection to the environment – and what we love, we want to protect. Bioacoustics provides the soundtrack, so to speak, and the knowledge to better understand and preserve nature.