Biology Reference
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Fig. 1.1 Landscape
ecology, bioacoustics,
psychoacoustics,
biosemiotics, and acoustic
ecology concur to create the
transdisciplinary character
of soundscape ecology
However, the sonic environment has been for a long time a focus of several
different disciplines, ranging from animal behavior studies to urban engineering
(Fig. 1.1 ).
The relationship between the landscape and the soundscape is very strict; in fact,
the soundscape is an extension of the concept of landscape. The (geographic)
landscape is the physical spatial dimension in which every population, community
and ecosystem process occurs in an explicit (multidimensional) way. The landscape
dimension is indispensable to fully understand the patterns and the processes that
concern a soundscape. We describe later the different models that try to connect the
soundscape with the landscape, but most of the patterns that we observe at
soundscape level are the result of the character of a landscape matrix. Nevertheless,
new models that integrate soundscape with landscape must be elaborated in the
future to better connect these two dimensions.
Definitively, soundscape ecology requires several approaches and competencies
for its transdisciplinary character where its goal may be focused:
- Analysis of spatiotemporal acoustic patterns borne by the interaction between
geophonic, biophonic, and anthrophonic sonic components.
- Analysis of the relationship between patterns and processes of the landscape and
patterns and processes of the soundscape.
- Conservation of soundscapes as important components of the landscape.
- Short- and long-term monitoring of ecosystem dynamics.
1.6 The Three Sources of the Sonic Environment
The soundscape is the result of the mixture of different and concurring sounds.
According to the source of such sounds it is possible to distinguish a geophonic
component, a biophonic component, and an anthrophonic component. We refer to a
physical dimension of the soundscape as a first descriptive approach, and this
represents the more simplified and objective classification of a soundscape.
This distinction is particularly useful especially when we intend to explore
the relationship between soundscape patterns (sonic patches or sonotopes) and
landscape configurations.
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