Chirps and songs can be signs of ecosystem health » Yale Climate Connection

Transcript:

Wildlife researchers often spend a lot of time peering through binoculars or monitoring trail camera footage.

But Elizabeth Zniedelsik of Australia's Charles Sturt University prefers to listen.

Zinedcic: “I first became very interested in sounds when I was studying mysterious marsh birds. So you don't usually see these birds, you just hear them.

So, to monitor the birds, she placed audio recorders in the marsh. She discovered that during a major flood, the Australian marabou storks stopped their mating calls.

Zinedcic: “Now, when the water levels come back down, which is a little further from their breeding season, the birds start singing.”

So the researchers could see that the birds changed their breeding patterns in response to flooding.

She said this is just one example of how recording the sounds of the natural world before and after extreme weather can help people understand how species are responding to climate change.

It helps them monitor how ecosystems recover after disasters. So, if needed, they can take steps to restore the ecosystem and ensure that it not only looks like it did before, but sounds good too.

Report source: Sarah Kennedy/ChavoBart Digital Media