Proposal

Name:

FAU Bioacoustics Hub: Equipment to Enhance Technology-driven Education and Research Training

FiscalYear:

2016

Audience:

Science, College of

Submitter:

Ziadi, Maria

Budget Manager:

Blanchard, Dominique

Project Manager:

Anderson, Rindy

Proposal Approvers

Dept. Chair:

Murphey, Rodney K.

Local IT:

Paredes, Jaime A.

Dean:

Blanks, Janet

Facilities:

N/A

OIT:

Bagdonas, Joseph A.

Proposal Funding

Year 1:

$ 0.00

Year 2:

$ 0.00

Year 3:

$ 0.00

Total:

$ 0.00

Proposal Funding versus Average

Questionnaire

Narrative
This proposal seeks $18,094 to fund a student/faculty initiative to expand the current technology and equipment pool for teaching and research at FAU by establishing a “Bioacoustics Hub.” This will support FAU’s strategic plan by providing hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty, with learning and research opportunities to carry out interdisciplinary, technology-driven research. The Bioacoustics Hub will be housed in Dr. Rindy Anderson’s laboratory (Biological Sciences) on the Davie campus. Dr. Anderson’s laboratory studies behavioral ecology and bioacoustics. Bioacoustics is an interdisciplinary field of research that seeks to understand how animals (including humans) produce, perceive, and respond to sound in their environment. Bioacoustics draws from biology, psychology, physics, and conservation biology, providing diverse opportunities for interdisciplinary education and research experiences. Our goals for the Bioacoustics Hub include: 1. Education through research: expanding undergraduate opportunities This proposal aligns with FAU’s 2015-2025 Strategic Plan by providing novel education and research opportunities that promote Platforms for Undergraduate Research and Inquiry and Big Data Analytics. Students involved with acoustic data collection and analysis, and with animal telemetry, will gain experience with storing, analyzing, and utilizing large data sets. Further, the autonomous acoustic recorders and radio transmitters requested in this proposal will support FAU’s Pillar in Sensing and Smart systems and its mission to incorporate remote sensing and automation technologies into education and research. The Bioacoustics Hub will also directly support FAU’s Environmental Science Platform by providing opportunities for education and research in field ecology, and the impacts of human activities on wild animals. The Anderson lab conducts research projects in state parks in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties, providing opportunities for students to directly engage with South Florida’s wildlife conservation community. 2. Creating new opportunities for research and inquiry in the classroom The funding requested here will allow Dr. Anderson to support FAU’s mission to incorporate hands-on research into classroom learning. FAU’s largest majors are Biology (>2,100 majors) and Psychology (>1,200), and the Neuroscience and Behavior major is growing rapidly. In addition, Biological Sciences trains more than 100 graduate students in a given year. Dr. Anderson teaches a large Comparative Animal Behavior course (150 students/yr) and a smaller course in Behavioral Ecology (~25 students/yr). With more computing workstations, and enhanced data collection and analysis capabilities, both courses could include student research projects. Thus, the Bioacoustics Hub has the potential to provide unique opportunities for thousands of FAU students, with direct access for the 175 students taught by Dr. Anderson each year. Student research projects that will be expanded and improved by this funding include: (1) Song learning and the vocal communication system of the Bachman’s sparrow. This population-level study uses behavioral observation, telemetry, acoustic analysis, and song playback methods to study social behavior and communication in the Bachman's sparrow, Peucaea aestivalis. This species is considered to be one of the most rapidly declining bird species in North America (IUCN Red List), but little is known about it’s social behavior and communication system. We will use radio transmitters to track fledgling movements, and will use autonomous audio recorders and a long-term song playback experiment to determine song learning stages. (2) Song function in female northern cardinals. Unlike many temperate songbird species, both sexes of the northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) sing. This project will utilize field observations of behavior, acoustic playback experiments, and autonomous acoustic recorders to test hypotheses about the social function of female song. Learning outcomes: Through these studies, students will learn field ecology techniques including telemetry, home-range estimation, and GPS/GIS technologies. Mark-recapture surveys will help students understand individual movements and aid our efforts to locate and identify previously marked adults and recruited sub-adults. Students will also learn behavior and bioacoustics methods including acoustic recording and analysis of vocal repertoires, acoustic playback techniques, and behavioral observation. Students will learn how behavioral studies and population monitoring can contribute to wildlife conservation efforts.
Facilities
Hardware Requirements
For both field research and teaching, the lab requires autonomous audio recorders, digital audio recorders, microphones, sound amplifiers, headphones, transmitters for animal telemetry, a storage case, playback speakers, and three additional workstation computers. The Song Meter SM4, an autonomous audio recorder, will be used for both field research and teaching. In the field, the recorders will be used to record the acoustic environment experienced by juvenile Bachman’s sparrows to determine how they develop their songs. Additionally, the autonomous recorders will be used in the study of the vocal behavior of northern cardinals. The recorders will allow researchers to record female cardinals on the nest at all times of day, while ensuring that nests are not disturbed. When not being used during the Bachman’s sparrow nesting season or cardinals study, the SM4s will be used to sample sounds across different species and different environments in order to teach sound analysis. The playback speakers, headphones, Tascam recorders, microphones, Bluetooth speakers, MP3 players, and sound amplifiers are all necessary to create recording setups to make audio recordings in the field of animals and environments. The equipment will supplement the 5 recordings setups available in the lab and will double the number of students that can participate in field work and DIS projects. The transmitters for animal telemetry will be used in locating and tracking the movements of juvenile Bachman’s sparrows after they have left their nests. These transmitters will also be used for undergraduate DIS projects in the field, and for student-driven research projects in Dr. Anderson’s courses. ***Please refer to the attached budget under 'Supporting Documentation' for an itemized list of the proposed budget.*** Hardware Requested: Autonomous Audio Recorder, Song Meter SM4 from Wildlife Acoustics: 3 (@899) = $2,697 Long-term Playback Speakers setup, Sandisk MP3 Player from Amazon: 5 (@46) = $230 Long-term Playback Speakers setup, Jensen 5.25" Black Dual Cone Waterproof Speakers from Amazon: 20 (@21) = $420 Long-term Playback Speakers setup, Goal Zero Yeti 150 Solar Generator Kit from Goal Zero: 5 (@430) = $2,150 Long-term Playback Speakers setup, Kenwood KAC-M1804 Compact 4-channel Amplifier from Amazon: 5 (@84) = $420 Long-term Playback Speakers setup, Pelican Air 1615 Case from PelicanCases.com: 5 (@300) = $1,500 Dell Opti-Plex All-in-One Touch Screen from Dell: 3 (@669) = $2,007 Tascam DR-mk100 digital recorder from B&H Photo Video: 5 (@270) = $1,350 Panasonic on-ear headphones from Amazon: 10 (@7) = $70 Shotgun Condenser Microphone from B&H Photo Video: 5 (@270) = $1,350 Roker Sound Canon Bluetooth Speaker from Amazon: 10 (@20) = $200 Holohil BD-2 transmitters from Holohil Systems, Ltd.: 25 (@180) = $4,500 Total hardware budget: $16,894
Software Requirements
For acoustic analysis, the lab requires three additional licenses of sound analysis software, Raven Pro produced by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. The software licenses are necessary to allow for multiple acoustic projects to be analyzed simultaneously. These additional workstations will bring the number of acoustic analysis workstations in the lab to six. These workstations will allow Dr. Anderson to incorporate research intensive activities and modules on bioacoustics and behavior into her courses. Students will sign up for time on the workstations and will work in small teams to analyze data. ***Please refer to the attached budget under 'Supporting Documentation'*** Raven Pro Site License from Cornell Lab of Ornithology: 3 (@400) = $1,200 Total software budget: $1,200
Personnel Costs
None requested.
Other Costs
None requested.
Timeline
February-March 2017: Purchase and setup/install new equipment and software. March 2017: Graduate students Niederhauser and Saless take the lead on learning to use new equipment and technologies and then train other lab personnel and students. Saless will begin using autonomous acoustic recorders in the field to record song by female Northern cardinals on the nest. April 2017: Begin to use new bioacoustics recording equipment in the field for graduate and undergraduate research projects. Dr. Anderson will pilot a team-based independent research project on animal bioacoustics in her Topics in Behavioral Ecology course. May-June 2017: Begin a pilot study of radio tracking juvenile Bachman’s sparrows in the field. March-August 2017: Field data acquisition and first DIS projects completed using the new equipment and technologies. August-December 2017: Implementation of data analysis using new software, and data acquisition for new DIS projects initiated during the fall of 2017. Dr. Anderson pilots a new research and inquiry module in her fall 2017 course Comparative Animal Behavior.
Sustainability
No recurring costs will arise after the initial investment. Any additional purchases (i.e. battery replacements, transmitter refurbishment) can be purchased through undergraduate research grants (OURI) and DIS support funding (Biological Sciences).
Resource Matching
None.
Implementing Organization
College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences.

Proposal Budget

Fiscal Year 1 Fiscal Year 2 Fiscal Year 3 Total
Hardware One-Time $ 16,894.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 16,894.00
Hardware Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Software One-time $ 1,200.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 1,200.00
Software Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Personnel One-time $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Personnel Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Other One-time $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Other Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Totals $ 18,094.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 18,094.00

Supporting Documentation

Filename Size Description
Budget Tech Fee Grant Proposal.pdf 91,095b Itemized list of proposed budget.