Something to Twitter About
What would the world sound like without humans in it?
You know about water contamination and particulate matter and carbon dioxide – but there’s another kind of pollution. Scientists have been whispering about it for years. (Listen up.)
It’s called biophony: the equivalent of the Golden Ratio for Planet Earth’s acoustics. Twittering, as it were, is not just for the birds. Species around the world inhabit finely-orchestrated ecosystems, creating a synergistic symphony with all manner of chirps, tweets, croaks, and barks. These vocalizations are necessary to survival. A round of ribbits from an army of frogs will foil a predator. But when a jet roars overhead, upsetting the chorus, the first confused frog to start croaking again is…lunch. Now spread that discordance across species, across the globe.
Bernie Krause, a leading bioacoustics scientist, believes that animals have evolved a “sonic niche” to fit their ecosystem and human-made disturbances to this harmonic soundtrack are putting many species at risk.
From the New York Times: “Many animals…have evolved to squeeze their vocalizations into available niches of the soundscape in order to be heard by others of their kind. Evolution isn’t just about the competition for space or food but also for bandwidth. If a species cannot find a sonic niche of its own, it will not survive.”
With 40% of the planet – from the thickest forest in the Amazon to the vast stretches of the Arctic – contaminated by human-made noise pollution in the form of so many vehicles, aircraft and motorized toys, the acoustic balance of whole ecosystems is threatened. From whales to wolves to indicator species like frogs, biophonic corruption is interfering with communication. The effects are devastating to animal reproduction, migration, feeding, socialization and, ultimately, survival.
What we need is less noise, more signal.
Image: Aussiegall
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7 Comments
June 11th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Ah agreed. I live in a very natural area with lots of bird sounds, wind in the trees, etc. But there is a road nearby and boy, do those cars make a lot of noise. You really don’t realize how loud a car is until you’re walking peacefully and one drives up. Suddenly the whole resonance is shattered. I like the idea of more silent, electric cars.
June 11th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Thanks, Sarah. I used to live in a very busy area and when I moved to a quiet neighborhood I was amazed at the level of noise pollution I’d grown accustomed to. Other than birds chirping and insects talking, it’s just blissful silence. Makes such a difference in quality of living, I think, so I can only imagine how it must be for more sensitive animals.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Well said and well put, but with no humans in the world, how would we hear the quiet? Some noise unavoidably comes with the injection of the creative human component. Just don’t let it be excessive, would be my desire.
June 11th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Great post, Sara.
I wonder, as part of the ecosystem ourselves, what frequencies we are naturally inclined to use….? (Some people use wider ranges than others, of course – see: opera, football matches, Celine Dion).
I love it when you get out into the wild, and start hearing the landscape for the first time….it’s like your ears tune to a different station. I’d hate for our children to miss out on that.
June 11th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Thanks, Mike. Guess those break tags didn’t work after all. Hmm… also, you forgot Mariah Carey.
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