Tropical Bioacoustics School 2025
French Polynesia
The Criobe field station.
TBS 2025 will take place on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia, at the Criobe biological field station. TBS 2025 will focus on the bioacoustics and ecoacoustics of coral reefs and tropical seas.
SAVE THE DATES: 5-16 May 2025
Fees: amount not yet determined.
Applications open: scheduled September 2024.
15 students maximum.
PhD students or post-doc.
For undergraduate: see list of bioacoustics courses.
A mix of field projects and lectures.
The Tropical Bioacoustics School is a school in the field. During TBS 2023, students will conduct a number of field projects (see below). Field observations, boat trips to discover the Moorea coral reefs, construction of experimental designs, sound recordings, sound propagation, playback experiments, and signal analysis with a focus on Artificial Intelligence techniques will be on the program. The students will also attend lectures on various aspects of bioacoustic and ecoacoustic research.
Field project 1. The coral reef soundscapes.
The aim of this project is to introduce students to coral reef Acoustic Passive Monitoring techniques. How to set up a sampling strategy? What equipment should be used? How to place it in the environment? How to analyze signals? After observing the characteristics of a reef on site and making recordings, we will analyze the signals obtained. Participants will be trained to the use of the (free) CoralSoundExplorer software.
Field project 2. Acoustic antenna, Artificial Intelligence, and passive monitoring of cetaceans.
During this project, students will be introduced to the techniques of acoustic antennas, which can be used to locate sound sources in the ocean. After deploying a recording system in the reef, we'll look at analysis techniques for extracting location information, and how to use these techniques to track cetacean behavior.
Field project 3. Acoustic communication in fish.
During this project, students will become familiar with sound-producing underwater animals, particularly fish. We will make recordings of reef fish, analyze the acoustic structure of their sound signals, and conduct playback experiments to test the effect of anthropogenic noise on their behavior.
Field project 4. Physics of underwater sounds.
In this project, students will learn about the complicated problem of sound wave propagation in the marine environment. Through sound propagation experiments, we'll examine how sound waves propagate in water, and what factors modulate the changes undergone by sounds as they propagate.
Lectures.
Course topics will include
- Sound propagation in the ocean environment
- Sound production and acoustic communication in fish
- Underwater hearing in vertebrates
- the sound world of invertebrates
- the ecology of coral reefs
- Artificial Intelligence and ocean life monitoring
- CoralReefExplorer: a tool for exploring coral reef soundscapes
- Acoustic communication in cetaceans
- At the interface between two environments: sound production, hearing and acoustic communication in pinnipeds
...
Personal work.
The Tropical Bioacoustics School qualifies students for the Diploma in Tropical Bioacoustics. Students are graded on the basis of their investment throughout the school, and a final oral presentation where they have to explain what the TBS benefited them and how it is likely to change their perspective or way of looking at their own research projects. Throughout the days, in addition to their fieldwork and lectures, students train in sound analysis techniques. Between field projects, lectures, personal training, and shared meals, there's little room for rest!