Collaborative Research: Acoustic ecology of predator-prey interactions: encoding and decoding alarm calls in multispecies communication networks

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Many animals produce alarm calls in response to danger. Recent research suggests that these important calls contain a previously-unsuspected amount of information about the specific type of danger (e.g. predator on the ground, hawk perched, flying hawk, threat level). In addition, it now appears that many different species of birds and mammals participate in complex communication networks that function as "distant early warning" systems about shared threats. This research project will focus on how distant early warning systems of animals work. The project will develop arrays of extremely sensitive microphones so that the acoustic landscapes of natural habitats can be monitored. The researchers will introduce live hawks of different types and extremely realistic robotic predators into the experimental habitats. This research will generate important information about natural distant early warning systems: How fast and how far do alarm calls spread in natural landscapes? How is information about threat type and threat level encoded in the alarm calls? Do all species of birds and mammals participate equally in these communication networks? In addition to novel information on how natural distant early warning systems work, this innovative project will generate new analytical tools for dealing with complex data about how information spreads in space and time. Resources generated during the project will be made freely available through the Macaulay Library (the world's largest repository of natural sounds) at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (http://macaulaylibrary.org). This project will also include a large component of cross-training and mentoring of students in many STEM fields. In addition, the project will dovetail into the well-developed existing infrastructure for public education through Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology Outreach program, The University of Montana's SpectrUM (an interactive science center), The Montana Natural History Center, and several other activities. Together these activities will reach many thousands of people per year.