Observer-free experimental evaluation of habitat and distance effects on the detection of anuran and bird vocalizations.

ABSTRACT: Acoustic surveys of vocalizing animals are conducted to determine density, distribution, and diversity. Acoustic surveys are traditionally performed by human listeners, but automated recording devices (ARD) are becoming increasingly popular. Signal strength decays, or attenuates, with increasing distance between source and receiver and some habitat types may differentially increase attenuation beyond the effects of distance alone. These combined effects are rarely accounted for in acoustic monitoring programs. We evaluated the performance of three playback devices and three ARD models using the calls of six anurans, six birds, and four pure tones. Based on these evaluations, we determined the optimal playback and recording devices. Using these optimal devices, we broadcast and recorded voc

SUBMITTER: MacLaren AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6308863 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature