Publications by authors named "Rodney A Rountree"

Archived soundscape data from Lake Champlain, New York, were used to examine the effect of anthropogenic sounds produced by recreational boating on freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens) soniferous behavior. Drum progressed from sporadic calling during the day to calls that increasingly overlapped culminating in a chorus in the late afternoon and evening. The response of drum to boat noise appeared to differ among these states, perhaps reflecting differences in the underlying behaviors.

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Sablefish sounds, named rasps, were recorded at two captive facilities in British Columbia and Washington State. Rasps consisted of highly variable broadband trains of 2 to 336 ticks that lasted between 74 and 10 500 ms. The 260 rasps that were measured contained frequencies between 344 and 34 000 Hz with an average peak frequency of 3409 Hz.

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The soundscape composition of temperate freshwater habitats is poorly understood. Our goal was to document the occurrence of biological and anthropogenic sounds in freshwater habitats over a large (46,000 km2) area along the geographic corridors of five major river systems in North America (Connecticut, Kennebec, Merrimack, Presumpscot, and Saco). The underwater soundscape was sampled in 19 lakes, 17 ponds, 20 rivers and 20 streams, brooks and creeks that were grouped into broad categories (brook/creek, pond/lake, and river).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to investigate the sounds produced by common fish species in New England freshwater habitats, particularly those associated with unidentified air movement sounds.
  • Real-time monitoring was conducted using Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) coupled with visual observations and underwater video to validate the sounds of five fish species, including various trout and white sucker for the first time.
  • The research suggests that these air movement sounds are species-specific and could be ecologically important, indicating potential applications for PAM in freshwater and marine environments.
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Sounds produced by Arctic cod were recorded for the first time and suggest passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) can be an effective additional tool for the study and management of the species. Each of the 38 calls detected in three different aquatic facilities consisted of a single grunt with 6 to 12 pulses and a mean duration of 289 ms. Call frequency ranged between 59 and 234 Hz, with a mean peak frequency of 107 Hz.

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NEPTUNE Canada is a cabled ocean observatory system containing five nodes located in the northeast Pacific Ocean. Using passive acoustic data recorded at two nodes (Folger Passage Deep and Barkley Canyon Axis) between June 2010 and May 2011, we sought to quantify the levels of vessel traffic and the occurrence of biological sounds to determine the potential impact of anthropogenic sound in masking acoustic communication. The results from a comparison of the relative amplitude and occurrence of low-frequency biotic sounds to broadband sounds resulting from vessel traffic are presented.

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Recent reports of high frequency sound production by cusk-eels cannot be explained adequately by known mechanisms, i.e., a forced response driven by fast sonic muscles on the swimbladder.

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