Spring Break
What 'woof' means: OSU hosts animal communication event
Scientists hear presentations and trade international ideas on animal communication
Gail Cole
Issue date: 8/13/08 Section: News
There is more behind the chirping of birds, barking of dogs and other animal sounds than we think.
The science behind animal communication will be discussed this week at the Acoustic Communication by Animals conference at LaSells Stewart Center. The event began on Tuesday, Aug. 12 and will conclude on Friday, Aug. 15.
The conference is sponsored by OSU and the Acoustical Society of America as well as several other organizations in the natural sciences.
According to the media release for the event, organizers are expecting about 250 presentations by researchers and scholars in the field of acoustics and animal communication.
The four-day conference will host various presentations by scholars in the many sub-fields of animal communication. Posters outlining the presented topics are on display around LaSells, and a large book of the abstracts of the study is available to attendees.
Some of the topics presented include the analysis of territorial defense communication of song sparrows, the effects of human-produced sound on various animals and the repetition of sounds made by South Pacific humpback whales, among many others.
According to its website, the ASA is an organization that discusses and studies acoustical sound, and is made up of scholars from various disciplines.
OSU was volunteered to be the location of the conference by Dave Mellinger, an organizer of the conference and an associate professor at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.
"We wanted to hold it on the West Coast," said Whitlow Au of the University of Hawaii and president elect of the ASA. "In this case, Dave stepped up."
The first conference on animal acoustic communication was held in 2003 at the University of Maryland.
The conference attracted attendees from a variety of fields of study and careers.
"From my agency's perspective, we really want to learn more about the science of the impacts of noise of species," said Diana Whittington, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and attendant of the conference.
The science behind animal communication will be discussed this week at the Acoustic Communication by Animals conference at LaSells Stewart Center. The event began on Tuesday, Aug. 12 and will conclude on Friday, Aug. 15.
The conference is sponsored by OSU and the Acoustical Society of America as well as several other organizations in the natural sciences.
According to the media release for the event, organizers are expecting about 250 presentations by researchers and scholars in the field of acoustics and animal communication.
The four-day conference will host various presentations by scholars in the many sub-fields of animal communication. Posters outlining the presented topics are on display around LaSells, and a large book of the abstracts of the study is available to attendees.
Some of the topics presented include the analysis of territorial defense communication of song sparrows, the effects of human-produced sound on various animals and the repetition of sounds made by South Pacific humpback whales, among many others.
According to its website, the ASA is an organization that discusses and studies acoustical sound, and is made up of scholars from various disciplines.
OSU was volunteered to be the location of the conference by Dave Mellinger, an organizer of the conference and an associate professor at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.
"We wanted to hold it on the West Coast," said Whitlow Au of the University of Hawaii and president elect of the ASA. "In this case, Dave stepped up."
The first conference on animal acoustic communication was held in 2003 at the University of Maryland.
The conference attracted attendees from a variety of fields of study and careers.
"From my agency's perspective, we really want to learn more about the science of the impacts of noise of species," said Diana Whittington, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and attendant of the conference.
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Be the first to comment on this story
Comments by registered users are approved by default.