Just added Bernie Krause and the Wild Sanctuary to the links page. He is a leading expert in soundscape ecology. When Rob presented the Sounds of our Surroundings workshop at SeaSwim, we discussed issues raised in Krause’s book The Great Animal Orchestra– such as the categories of biophony, geophony, and anthrophony. These can also be found in this exciting paper on soundscape ecology published in the Bioscience journal co-authored by Krause amongst other names:
Soundscape Ecology: The Science of Sound in the Landscape
The Great Animal Orchestra is a must read for those interested in the preservation of soundscapes or the effects that acoustic environments have on their inhabitants.
I saw Bernie Krause give a talk at the School of Sound in April this year (2013) and, amongst recent anecdotes, reiterated issues from his book such as the dramatic differences in the soundscapes of Lincoln Meadows due to selective logging. There was a significant reduction in biophony, in wildlife inhabitants, and haven’t returned since. He argues that despite the obviously reduction in plant life, the contrast is something that video or photography cannot represent; only our ears and microphones can identify the destructive effect that activities such as logging have on a natural environment.
See his TED talk below!
Acoustic Ecology @ UoH 