Development of a Fisheries Acoustic Center

我们请求资金购买一个集成包，用于声学数据收集、建模和可视化。仪器部件包括两个用于数据采集的四频数字声学系统，一个用于仪器校准和参数估计的大型测量水箱，一个用于生物解剖测量的便携式软X光机，以及一个用于数据管理、建模和可视化的计算机工作站。当这些仪器组合在一起时，将形成一个渔业声学中心，具有增强的计算机能力和内存；高分辨率、多频率的声学测量和校准设施；以及最先进的交互式声学建模和可视化能力，所有这些都设在一个新的岸上实验室。这套仪器将使布法罗州立大学的五大湖中心成为声学研究和建模的主要机构之一。它将成为未来5-10年首席调查员的主要研究重点，并将成为布法罗州立学院新重组的五大湖中心制定学术课程和招募研究人员的核心工具。在过去的三年里，我们开发了一种新的分析方法来研究水生环境中的中上层生物的空间生态和生产。我们结合了水下声学的优势来以高空间分辨率测量鱼类的丰度，生物能量模型来测量鱼类的消耗和生长，以及空间建模来定义观察到的分布模式和致因过程之间的关系。该方法已被用于评估生物和非生物栖息地空间格局的细微尺度变化对淡水和河口环境中鱼类的摄食生态、生长和产量的影响。建立渔业声学中心将通过量化在觅食和空间模型中使用的特定物种参数来补充正在进行的生态学研究。正在进行的和预计将利用这种设备进行的研究类型包括：水生生态领域(对从小湖泊到五大湖和海洋的各种系统中鱼类和无脊椎动物的丰度、生产、分布、尺寸和行为的声学评估)；声学海洋学(游泳速度、目标强度和声散射体特征的声学测量)和空间生态学(精细时空过程对大尺度现象的影响的2个或3个维度的空间建模)。培训将在本科生、研究生和研究生层面进行，培训将结合个人的实际研究经验、专门课程、访问科学家和远程互联网接入。

We request funds to purchase an integrated package for acoustic data collection, modeling, and visualization. Instrument components include two 4-frequency, digital acoustic systems for data acquisition, a large measurement tank for instrument calibration and parameter estimation, a portable soft, x-ray machine for organism anatomy measurements, and a computer workstation for data management, modeling, and visualization. When combined, these instruments will form a Fisheries Acoustic Center with enhanced computer power and memory; high resolution, multi-frequency acoustic measurement and calibration facilities; and state-of-the-art interactive acoustic modeling and visualization capabilities all housed at a new shore-based laboratory. This instrumentation package will make the Great Lakes Center at Buffalo State College one of the premier institutes in acoustic research and modeling. It will form a major research focus of the Principal Investigators over the next 5-10 years and will be a core instrument in academic course development and research recruitment at the newly reconstituted Great Lakes Center at Buffalo State College. Over the past three years, we have developed a new analytical approach to examine the spatial ecology and production of pelagic organisms in aquatic environments. We combine the strengths of underwater acoustics to measure fish abundances at high spatial resolution, bioenergetic models to measure fish consumption and growth, and spatial modeling to define the relationship between observed distribution patterns and causative processes. This approach has been used to assess the effects of fine-scale changes in the spatial pattering of biotic and abiotic habitat on the feeding ecology, growth, and production of fishes in freshwater and estuarine environments. Creation of a Fisheries Acoustic Center will complement ongoing ecological research by quantifying species-specific parameters used in foraging and spatial models. Th e types of ongoing and projected research that will use this equipment include the field of aquatic ecology (acoustic assessment of the abundances, production, distributions, sizes and behavior of fishes and invertebrates in systems ranging in size from small lakes to the Great Lakes and oceans), acoustical oceanography (acoustic measures of swimming speeds, target strength, and identity of acoustic scatterers) and spatial ecology (spatial modeling in two or three dimensions of the effects of fine-scale spatial and temporal processes on large scale phenomena). Training will be done at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels through a combination of individual 'on-hands' research experience, specialized courses, visiting scientists and remote internet access.