Comparative bioacoustics is extraordinarily broad in scope. It includes the study of sound propagation, dispersion, attenuation, absorption, reverberation, and signal degradation as well as sound detection, recognition, and classification in both marine and terrestrial organisms (including humans). This research is informed by an understanding of the mechanisms underlying sound generation and aural reception, as well as the anatomy and physiology of the organs dedicated to these functions. Comparative Bioacoustics is the definitive introductory guide to the field of acoustics in animal and human biology. Key features of this volume are: -Comprehensive introduction to sound and related physical phenomena -Multidisciplinary and comparative analyses of bioacoustic phenomena -Integrated audio and video clips -Information about relevant research methods in bioacoustics Comparative Bioacoustics makes key information accessible to readers, therefore, meeting the requirements of both novice and advanced researchers preparing for a scholarly career in bioacoustics.

Twenty five years ago, Bill Stebbins presented the principles of animal psychophysics in an edited volume (Stebbins, 1970) describing an array of modem, creative methodologies for investigating the range of sensory systems in a variety of vertebrate species. These principles included precise stimulus control, a well defined behavioral response, and a rigorous behavioral procedure appropriate to the organism under study. As a generation of comparative sensory scientists applied these principles, our knowledge of sensory and perceptual function in a wide range of animal species has grown dramatically, especially in the field of hearing. Comparative psychoacoustics, i. e. , the study of the hearing capabilities in animals using behavioral methods, is an area of animal psychophysics that has seen remarkable advances in methodology over the past 25 years. Acoustic stimuli are now routinely generated using digital methods providing the researcher with unprecedented possibilities for stimulus control and experimental design. The strategies and paradigms for data collection and analysis are becoming more refined as well, again due in large part to the widespread use of computers. In this volume, the reader will find a modem array of strategies designed to measure detection and discrimination of both simple and complex acoustic stimuli as well experimental designs to assess how organisms perceive, identify and classify acoustic stimuli. Refinements in modem methodologies now make it possible to compare diverse species tested under similar, if not identical, experimental conditions.

By far, the most widely used subjects in psychological and biological research today are rodents. Although rats and mice comprise the largest group of animals used in research, there are over 2,000 species and 27 families of rodents, living all over the world (except Antarctica) and thriving in many different habitat types. The vast environmental diversity that rodents face has led to numerous adaptations for communication, including vocalizing and hearing in both the sonic and ultrasonic ranges, effectively communicating in the open air and underground, and using vocalizations for coordinating sexual behavior, for mother-pup interactions, and for signaling an alarming situation to the group. Some rodent species have even developed foot drumming behaviors for communication. Comparative studies from around the globe, using both field and laboratory methodologies, reveal the vast differences in acoustic communication behavior across many rodent species. Some rodents are amenable to training and have been domesticated and bred purely for research purposes. Since the early 1900s, rats and mice have been indispensable to research programs around the world. Thus, much of what we know about hearing and vocalizations in rodents come from these two species tested in the laboratory. The sequencing of the mouse genome in 2002, followed by the rat genome in 2004, only increased the utility of these animals as research subjects since genetically engineered strains mimicking human diseases and disorders could be developed more easily. In the laboratory, rats and mice are used as models for human communication and hearing disorders and are involved in studies on hearing loss and prevention, hormones, and auditory plasticity, to name a few. We know that certain strains of mice retain hearing better than others throughout their lifespan, and about the genes involved in those differences. We know about the effects of noise, hormones, sex, aging, and circadian rhythms on hearing in mice and other rodents. We also know about normal hearing in many families of rodents, including the perception of simple and complex stimuli and the anatomy and physiology of hearing and sound localization. The importance of acoustic communication to these animals, as well as the significance of these mammals to biomedical research, are summarized in the chapters.

This book is about the behaviour of teleosts, a well-defined, highly successful, taxonomic group of vertebrate animals sharing a common body plan and forming the vast majority of living bony fishes. There are weH over 22000 living species of teleosts, including nearly all those of importance in com mercial fisheries and aquaculture. Teleosts are represented injust about every conceivable aquatic environment from temporary desert pools to the deep ocean, from soda lakes to sub-zero Antarctic waters. Behaviour is the primary interface between these effective survival machines and their environment: behavioural plasticity is one of the keys to their success. The study of animal behaviour has undergone revolutionary changes in the past decade under the dual impact of behavioural ecology and sociobiology. The modern body of theory provides quantitatively testable and experi mentaHy accessible hypotheses. Much current work in animal behaviour has concentrated on birds and mammals, animals with ostensibly more complex structure, physiology and behavioural capacity, but there is a growing body of information about the behaviour of fishes. There is now increasing awareness that the same ecological and evolutionary rules govern teleost fish, and that their behaviour is not just a simplified version of that seen in birds and mammals. The details of fish behaviour intimately reflect unique and efficient adaptations to their three-dimensional aquatic environment.

Sense organs serve as a kind of biological interface between the environment and the organism. Therefore, the relationship between sensory systems and ecology is very close and its knowledge of fundamental importance for an understanding of animal behavior. The sixteen chapters of this book exemplify the diversity of the constraints and opportunities associated with the sensation of stimuli representing different forms of energy. The book stresses the events taking place in the sensory periphery where the animal is exposed to and gets in touch with its natural habitat and acquires the information needed to organize its interaction with its environment. Ecology of Sensing brings together the leading experts in the field.