Introduction
The Special Interest Group for Bioacoustics (SIGBio) is concerned with all aspects of sound production, dispersion and reception in the natural world. The group will bring together researchers from this diverse field and cover a range of topics including conservation ecology, neurobiology and engineering acoustics. The SIG will act as a forum for those working in bioacoustics to exchange ideas and encourage collaborations that can enhance the impact of individual research projects. The SIG will also facilitate access to and the sharing of data with the goal of improving data availability across disciplines and accelerating the UK’s position in world leading bioacoustics research.
Challenges
The field of bioacoustics contains a multitude of interdisciplinary specialities that are often not communicated amongst researchers. Progress made in one branch of bioacoustics might prove invaluable to another and the SIGBio will look to ensure that this information can be efficiently translated across disciplines. It is essential that UK’s momentum in bioacoustics research is maintained and the SIGBio will take steps to: i)æ¯increase the national profile and relative importance of bioacoustics; ii) encourage cross disciplinary knowledge and data exchange; iii) increase support and networking opportunities for early careers scientists in bioacoustics; iv) promote joint meetings and activity between academia and industry. To support this the SIGBio will draw together researchers and practitioners across academia, industry and government. The SIGBio will also work closely with the other SIGs across the UKAN network to identify needs in other areas of acoustics.
Objectives
The SIGBio will divide its efforts between a series of workshops, conferences, and other scientific events to designed to assemble researchers working in the wide field of Bioacoustics. The SIGBio will work to encourage the exchange ideas and promote discussion between researchers, practitioners and users and look to create a set of specific objectives.æ¯The SIGBio will look to evaluate and catalogue the current UK bioacoustics research network, with the aim of identifying areas of potential collaboration and knowledge exchange in order to increase the global impact of UK based bioacoustics research.