Marine Bioacoustics Back To The Future

The primary goal of our project is to provide advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral investigators with a broad understanding of ocean acoustics as well as the techniques used to study the ecology of marine animals in situ. By bringing together many of the top researchers in marine bioacoustics, biological oceanography, and marine biology, we provide students with a unique opportunity to work side by side with world experts using state-of-the-art tools and technologies. A secondary goal of the project is to provide a setting for developing and testing new technologies. In this manner, it serves as a research magnet, attracting leading scientists to conduct their own research in a creative teaching and learning environment that catalyzes interactions across the various disciplines associated with Biacoustical Oceanography. To provide students with a broad understanding of the acoustic techniques used to study the distribution and behavior of marine animals in the context of their physical/chemical/biological environment. Through lectures, demonstrations, and field exercises, we provide students with a unique opportunity to learn and work side by side with top scientists using state-of-the-art bioacoustic tools and techniques.

Humans have always been fascinated by marine life, from extremely small diatoms to the largest mammal that inhabits our planet, the blue whale. However, studying marine life in the ocean is an extremely difficult propo- tion because an ocean environment is not only vast but also opaque to most instruments and can be a hostile environment in which to perform expe- ments and research. The use of acoustics is one way to effectively study animal life in the ocean. Acoustic energy propagates in water more efficiently than almost any form of energy and can be utilized by animals for a variety of purposes and also by scientists interested in studying their behavior and natural history. However, underwater acoustics have traditionally been in the domain of physicists, engineers and mathematicians. Studying the natural history of animals is in the domain of biologists and physiologists. Und- standing behavior of animals has traditionally involved psychologists and zoologists. In short, marine bioacoustics is and will continue to be a diverse discipline involving investigators from a variety of backgrounds, with very different knowledge and skill sets. The inherent inter-disciplinary nature of marine bioacoustics presents a large challenge in writing a single text that would be meaningful to various investigators and students interested in this field. Yet we have embarked on this challenge to produce a volume that would be helpful to not only beginning investigators but to seasoned researchers.