Ethical birding call playback and conservation

Liked to death: the impacts of social media and photography on biodiversity

The advent and everyday prominence of social media has fuelled a rise in nature tourism and photography to share experiences online. This is increasingly resulting in disturbance to natural environments and causing a range of direct and indirect impacts to native species. We highlight the key negative impacts of social media on biodiversity and determine which characteristics predispose some taxa to a greater threat from social media than others. Direct disturbances arising from social media use include behavioural and physiological impacts, such as disruptions to breeding and feeding and increased predation risk. The use of call playback, drones and baiting of animals for photographs also have a range of negative impacts. Other direct impacts include the capture and handling of animals for photographs and damage and trampling to plants. Indirect impacts include the spread of diseases and increased poaching of flora and fauna. We advocate for the instigation of codes of ethics and tighter controls around the use and promotion of flora and fauna on social media. We propose a framework that considers species most at risk from social media activities, especially those that are rare, sessile and have restricted ranges.

R. M, Mukherjee S, Robin VV. Playback-Aided Surveys and Acoustic Monitoring in the Detection of the Endangered Forest Owlet Athene blewitti

Monitoring rare and endangered species over the long term is challenging due to limited historical data and comparable methods. Climate and landscape changes can significantly impact species distributions, driving some to extinction. The Forest Owlet is an endangered bird considered extinct but rediscovered after 113 years in 1997. Since its rediscovery, followed by the description of its calls, there have been regular recent sightings of the species from newer locations, leading to its downlisting in the IUCN Red List from critically endangered to endangered. In the Dang region in Gujarat, India, there have been no historical records despite previous systematic ornithological studies over three decades, but have multiple sightings over the last few years. Although we now know a little more about the broad association of the species occurrence with habitat and climate variables, a major focus of this study is to estimate the reasons for the "appearance" of the Forest Owlet in Dangs. We revisited locations of past surveys to determine if the species is currently found in the study sites where it was previously unrecorded. We also examine whether new survey methods using playback of its call could enhance its detection. During resurveys, we located the Forest Owlet at new, previously unrecorded locations. Analyses of satellite imagery products revealed significant changes in the broader Dang landscape, including the loss of native forests, increased agriculture, and shifts in mean maximum temperature and rainfall. Our research suggests playback can enhance detection, although its effectiveness varies across landscapes. A detection strategy for long-term monitoring was developed using different acoustic detectors. An effective detection distance of 300 m within the habitat was achieved using automated recording units (ARUs). Although the species responds to climate and habitat change, the cause of the increased reports of this endangered species remains undetermined. However, we found increased detections using newer survey techniques involving bioacoustics. We recommend using these techniques carefully for future baseline studies, which are urgently required.

Listening to animal behavior to understand changing ecosystems

Interpreting sound gives powerful insight into the health of ecosystems. Beyond detecting the presence of wildlife, bioacoustic signals can reveal their behavior. However, behavioral bioacoustic information is underused because identifying the function and context of animals' sounds remains challenging. A growing acoustic toolbox is allowing researchers to begin decoding bioacoustic signals by linking individual and population-level sensing. Yet, studies integrating acoustic tools for behavioral insight across levels of biological organization remain scarce. We aim to catalyze the emerging field of behavioral bioacoustics by synthesizing recent successes and rising analytical, logistical, and ethical challenges. Because behavior typically represents animals' first response to environmental change, we posit that behavioral bioacoustics will provide theoretical and applied insights into animals' adaptations to global change.

Using Acoustic Data Repositories to Study Vocal Responses to Playback in a Neotropical Songbird

Birds may alter song structure in response to territorial challenges to convey information about aggressive intent or fighting ability. Professional and amateur ornithologists upload daily many birdsong recordings into acoustic data repositories, usually scoring whether songs were recorded in response to a conspecific playback or produced spontaneously. We analyzed recordings from these repositories to evaluate if song traits of Rufous-browed Peppershrikes (Cyclarhis gujanensis) vary between playback-elicited songs and spontaneous songs. For each recording after playback, we chose one spatially closer spontaneous recording to avoid geographic bias. Birds recorded after playback produced slightly longer songs than birds that were singing spontaneously. This result was accounted for by increases in the amount of sound and silence within a song after the playback instead of changes in the mean number or duration of elements. Playback did not alter song frequency parameters (bandwidth, minimum, mean, and maximum frequencies) or song rate. These results indicate that song duration might mediate aggressive interactions in Rufous-browed Peppershrikes. Even considering limitations such as unknown playback stimulus identity and possible pseudoreplication, acoustic data repositories give a unique yet unexplored opportunity to gather insights into the evolution of song flexibility during aggressive encounters.

Assessing the efficacy of electronic quail callers in attracting stubble quail and non-target predators

Hunting is a prominent feature of many human societies. Advancements in hunting technologies can challenge the ethics and sustainability of hunting globally. We investigated the efficacy of an electronic acoustic lure (‘quail caller’), in attracting the otherwise difficult-to hunt stubble quail Coturnix pectoralis in Victoria, Australia. Using distance sampling, the density and abundance of stubble quail was estimated at 79 sites across a range of habitat types in an agricultural setting, each with an active ‘quail caller’ station continuously broadcasting for 48 hours, and a control station (no broadcast). Quail detectability at the active stations (62.9%) far exceeded that at control stations (6.3%). Most (57%) detections occurred within 30 m of active ‘quail callers’. Stubble quail relative abundance was substantially greater when ‘quail callers’ were broadcasting. Cameras mounted near ‘quail callers’ identified the predatory red fox as a non-target predator, although rates of attraction appear similar between active and control sites. ‘Quail callers’ are highly effective at attracting stubble quail and concentrating them to a known area, raising questions in relation to sustainable hunting practices, indirect effects, and ethical implications. ‘Quail callers’ do, however, also offer a tool for estimating quail abundance and developing more accurate population size estimates.

Acoustic restoration: Using soundscapes to benchmark and fast-track recovery of ecological communities

We introduce a new approach—acoustic restoration—focusing on the applied utility of soundscapes for restoration, recognising the rich ecological and social values they encapsulate. Broadcasting soundscapes in disturbed areas can accelerate recolonisation of animals and the microbes and propagules they carry; long duration recordings are also ideal sources of data for benchmarking restoration initiatives and evocative engagement tools.