Long Recording Sequences: How to Track the Intra-Individual Variability of Acoustic Signals

Recently developed acoustic technologies - like automatic recording units - allow the recording of long sequences in natural environments. These devices are used for biodiversity survey but they could also help researchers to estimate global signal variability at various (individual, population, species) scales. While sexually-selected signals are expected to show a low intra-individual variability at relatively short time scale, this variability has never been estimated so far. Yet, measuring signal variability in controlled conditions should prove useful to understand sexual selection processes and should help design acoustic sampling schedules and to analyse long call recordings. We here use the overall call production of 36 male treefrogs (Hyla arborea) during one night to evaluate within-individual variability in call dominant frequency and to test the efficiency of different sampling methods at capturing such variability. Our results confirm that using low number of calls underestimates call dominant frequency variation of about 35% in the tree frog and suggest that the assessment of this variability is better by using 2 or 3 short and well-distributed records than by using samples made of consecutive calls. Hence, 3 well-distributed 2-minutes records (beginning, middle and end of the calling period) are sufficient to capture on average all the nightly variability, whereas a sample of 10 000 consecutive calls captures only 86% of it. From a biological point of view, the call dominant frequency variability observed in H. arborea (116Hz on average but up to 470 Hz of variability during the course of the night for one male) challenge about its reliability in mate quality assessment. Automatic acoustic recording units will provide long call sequences in the near future and it will be then possible to confirm such results on large samples recorded in more complex field conditions.     

Do pup ultrasonic cries provoke prolactin secretion in lactating rats?

Marked prolactin (PRL) secretion in response to the ultrasonic distress vocalizations of rat pups in lactating dams deprived of their pups for 6 hr was reported by others. In two experiments, this phenomenon could not be confirmed under our testing conditions at either 1 or 2 weeks postpartum, although behavioral responses to the ultrasounds were noted. In addition, suckling-induced PRL secretion did not differ consistently as a function of the tape recording (pup ultrasounds, 45 kHz artificially produced ultrasounds, or blank tape) heard prior to the return of pups. The functional significance of rat pup ultrasounds is considered.     

Anechoic aquarium for ultrasonic neural telemetry

An acoustic neural telemetry tag has been developed for recording from free-swimming aquatic animals. Microwire electrodes were implanted into the VIIIth nerve of the toadfish, Opsanus tau, and interfaced to the subdermally implanted tag. The telemetry tag frequency modulates the neural signal, converting it into a varying frequency, which is amplified and transmitted acoustically (centre frequency of 90 kHz and a 20 kHz bandwidth). This acoustic signal is detected by a receiver hydrophone, and the receiver reconstructs the full neural waveform from the acoustic signal. However, due to the multipath environment in the experimental aquarium, the acoustic signal is quickly degraded as the hydrophone is moved away from the source. In order to receive the signal independent of fish position, an anechoic aquarium was designed. Streams of microbubbles (ca. 70 microm diameter) were generated to produce a curtain of sound-absorptive material along the walls and water surface of the aquarium. Microbubble generation significantly reduced the multipath artefacts, and allowed signal discrimination independent of fish and hydrophone position. The anechoic aquarium will allow the recording of neural activity from free-swimming fishes in quasi-natural habitats, thus allowing better understanding of the neural mechanisms of behaviour.     

Acoustic signals and echolocation system of the dolphin

Two-channel recording of acoustic signals from two quasi-stationary dolphins has previously suggested that the dolphin echolocation system is more complex than discussed earlier, and includes at least four sonars. In the present work, two-channel recording of signals, analysis and interpretation of their functions were continued in terms of physical acoustics, signal theory and echolocation. The results indicate that the echolocation system of dolphins involves four organs to produce probing signals of five different types, which implies different mechanisms of their processing by the dolphin hearing; its operation corresponds to as many as six varieties of sonar systems. The results are of importance for studying the echolocation system of Odontoceti and for improving sonars and radars.     

Development of a baby's cry

The work is dedicated to studying of development of babies cries forms (systems of acoustic characteristics) during first half-year of life. The main cry functions in the system of baby's interaction with mother is being considered and the acoustic parameters to which mother reacts determining the cause of cry are being revealed.     

First results with a new estuarine fish tracking system

A 'sonar buoy' tracking system has been developed at the MAFF Fisheries Laboratory based upon acoustic transmitting tags and relay units which retransmit the pulsed acoustic signal as a radio signal. The output from several such 'sonar buoys' is monitored by a single automatic recording station on the shore. The system has been used on salmon in the estuary of the River Fowey in Cornwall, providing useful data on the behaviour of returning adults before they enter the river. The tags also transmit a radio frequency signal to allow tracking in the river itself. Of fourteen fish tagged in 1985, six were recorded entering the river between 12 h and 41 days after being released. Another fish was recaptured in a coastal net 160 km to the east. These few preliminary results indicated two distinct patterns of behaviour: one fish remained in deep water in the lower estuary for several days, often lying near moored ships or jetties; at other times fish made extensive excursions up the estuary with the tide, usually returning with the ebb.     

Pheromone monitoring in the field using single sensillum recording

In order to obtain direct information of stimulus dynamics perceived by a male moth under field conditions a portable device was constructed which enables continuous recording of responses from individual pheromone receptors. The device is suitable for tip recording by means of micro-knives as well as for recording with tungsten electrodes making it applicable for a wide range of insects. A micro thermistor air velocity sensor is placed within 2 mm from the preparation to record the momentary air flow. The signal conditioning electronic circuits are battery powered, and the signals can be stored on a portable tape recorder. Field recordings were made from individual male antennal pheromone receptors ofAegeria myopaeformis andAdoxophyes orana. In all recordings the instantaneous firing frequency of the receptor cells was strongly modulated by the air velocity. Analysis of the data may provide information about the average pheromone concentration and the fine structure of pheromone plumes under various conditions.     

The effect of an acoustic calling signal on the sex hormone level in the blood of white mice

The action was studied of synthesized acoustic signals, similar to the natural invocatory ones by their characteristics, on the level of sexual hormones in male and female mature laboratory mice, and also the dependence of these hormonal shifts on rhythmic organization of the artificial sound signals. As a result of the experiments it was convincingly shown that synthesized acoustic signal with the frequency of 3500 Hz (S-1) caused a functional load on the glands of internal secretion which was testified by statistically significant increase in the level of sexual hormones in the blood of males (by testosterone and extradiole) and female mice (by extradiole and progesterone). In order to clear up the role of rhythmic organization of signal studies were conducted with the application of synthetic acoustic signal (S-2), different from S-1. The analysis of the data revealed the absence of significant changes in the level of sexual hormones both in males and in females during S-2 sounding.     

Frequency range of the auditory effect of UHF

Zero beats of radiosound with an acoustic signal from an electrodynamic emitter in the frequency range up to 8 kHz were recorded in a natural experiment, which were not obtained earlier. It has been shown that the zero beats between the acoustic tonal signal and the first harmonics of the impulse succession of UHF are recorded in the points which correspond to low values on the threshold curve of UHF auditory effect.     

Corticofugal regulation of auditory sensitivity in the bat inferior colliculus

Under free-field stimulation conditions, corticofugal regulation of auditory sensitivity of neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, was studied by blocking activities of auditory cortical neurons with Lidocaine or by electrical stimulation in auditory cortical neuron recording sites. The corticocollicular pathway regulated the number of impulses, the auditory spatial response areas and the frequency-tuning curves of inferior colliculus neurons through facilitation or inhibition. Corticofugal regulation was most effective at low sound intensity and was dependent upon the time interval between acoustic and electrical stimuli. At optimal interstimulus intervals, inferior colliculus neurons had the smallest number of impulses and the longest response latency during corticofugal inhibition. The opposite effects were observed during corticofugal facilitation. Corticofugal inhibitory latency was longer than corticofugal facilitatory latency. Iontophoretic application of γ-aminobutyric acid and bicuculline to inferior colliculus recording sites produced effects similar to what were observed during corticofugal inhibition and facilitation. We suggest that corticofugal regulation of central auditory sensitivity can provide an animal with a mechanism to regulate acoustic signal processing in the ascending auditory pathway. Accepted: 15 July 1998     

Singing in the rain forest: how a tropical bird song transfers information

How information transmission processes between individuals are shaped by natural selection is a key question for the understanding of the evolution of acoustic communication systems. Environmental acoustics predict that signal structure will differ depending on general features of the habitat. Social features, like individual spacing and mating behavior, may also be important for the design of communication. Here we present the first experimental study investigating how a tropical rainforest bird, the white-browed warbler Basileuterus leucoblepharus, extracts various information from a received song: species-specific identity, individual identity and location of the sender. Species-specific information is encoded in a resistant acoustic feature and is thus a public signal helping males to reach a wide audience. Conversely, individual identity is supported by song features susceptible to propagation: this private signal is reserved for neighbors. Finally, the receivers can locate the singers by using propagation-induced song modifications. Thus, this communication system is well matched to the acoustic constraints of the rain forest and to the ecological requirements of the species. Our results emphasize that, in a constraining acoustic environment, the efficiency of a sound communication system results from a coding/decoding process particularly well tuned to the acoustic properties of this environment.     

At sea vocal repertoire of a foraging seabird

Seabirds spend most of their time at sea, yet our knowledge of their activities and behaviour is limited due to difficulties of in‐situ data collection. In particular, we know virtually nothing about their acoustic communication when at sea. We benefited from the recent development of miniaturised audio‐recording devices to deploy acoustic recorders on breeding Cape gannets Morus capensis to study their vocal activity while foraging. Call sequences were recorded on 1718 occasions, from which acoustic variables were measured on calls with good recording quality. A total of 1348 calls from 18 birds were measured in temporal and frequency domains. Each call was assigned to a behavioural context defined acoustically: sitting on the water, flying, taking off or just before diving. Potential discrimination among calls from different contexts was tested using the random forest algorithm. Within each context, individual stereotypy in the calls was assessed per acoustic variable using a measure of potential of individual coding, and as a combination of variables using a similar multivariate analysis. The acoustic structure differed according to the behavioural context (global accuracy of prediction 75%). Temporal variables (sequence and call duration) were most important to correctly classify the calls among the four contexts. When considering only two contexts, on the water and in the air (merging flying and diving), frequency and spectral variables (percentage of energy below 1200 Hz and fundamental frequency) were of most importance (accuracy 86%). A combination of acoustic variables was necessary to discriminate individuals, but calls from all contexts were not strongly individually distinct (accuracy 41–63%). We provided the first detailed acoustic analysis of a foraging seabird and demonstrated context‐specific acoustic structure in its vocalisations at sea. Our results suggest that seabirds use vocal communication to exchange various types of information that likely improves foraging success.     

Behavioral, medical imaging and histopathological features of a new rat model of bone cancer pain

Pre-clinical bone cancer pain models mimicking the human condition are required to respond to clinical realities. Breast or prostate cancer patients coping with bone metastases experience intractable pain, which affects their quality of life. Advanced monitoring is thus required to clarify bone cancer pain mechanisms and refine treatments. In our model of rat femoral mammary carcinoma MRMT-1 cell implantation, pain onset and tumor growth were monitored for 21 days. The surgical procedure performed without arthrotomy allowed recording of incidental pain in free-moving rats. Along with the gradual development of mechanical allodynia and hyperalgesia, behavioral signs of ambulatory pain were detected at day 14 by using a dynamic weight-bearing apparatus. Osteopenia was revealed from day 14 concomitantly with disorganization of the trabecular architecture (μCT). Bone metastases were visualized as early as day 8 by MRI (T(1)-Gd-DTPA) before pain detection. PET (Na(18)F) co-registration revealed intra-osseous activity, as determined by anatomical superimposition over MRI in accordance with osteoclastic hyperactivity (TRAP staining). Pain and bone destruction were aggravated with time. Bone remodeling was accompanied by c-Fos (spinal) and ATF3 (DRG) neuronal activation, sustained by astrocyte (GFAP) and microglia (Iba1) reactivity in lumbar spinal cord. Our animal model demonstrates the importance of simultaneously recording pain and tumor progression and will allow us to better characterize therapeutic strategies in the future.     

Multimodal communication in a noisy environment: a case study of the Bornean rock frog Staurois parvus

High background noise is an impediment to signal detection and perception. We report the use of multiple solutions to improve signal perception in the acoustic and visual modality by the Bornean rock frog, Staurois parvus. We discovered that vocal communication was not impaired by continuous abiotic background noise characterised by fast-flowing water. Males modified amplitude, pitch, repetition rate and duration of notes within their advertisement call. The difference in sound pressure between advertisement calls and background noise at the call dominant frequency of 5578 Hz was 8 dB, a difference sufficient for receiver detection. In addition, males used several visual signals to communicate with conspecifics with foot flagging and foot flashing being the most common and conspicuous visual displays, followed by arm waving, upright posture, crouching, and an open-mouth display. We used acoustic playback experiments to test the efficacy-based alerting signal hypothesis of multimodal communication. In support of the alerting hypothesis, we found that acoustic signals and foot flagging are functionally linked with advertisement calling preceding foot flagging. We conclude that S. parvus has solved the problem of continuous broadband low-frequency noise by both modifying its advertisement call in multiple ways and by using numerous visual signals. This is the first example of a frog using multiple acoustic and visual solutions to communicate in an environment characterised by continuous noise.     

Screening large audio datasets to determine the time and space distribution of Screaming Piha birds in a tropical forest

Acoustic monitoring has proved to be an efficient approach to monitor wildlife, notably in environments with limited visibility, such as tropical rainforests. Today, recording equipment allows acoustic data to be gathered in remote areas at wide spatial and temporal scales. The resulting datasets are large and the use of automated processing systems to extract relevant information can greatly facilitate their analysis. Here, we have developed signal processing techniques to reveal the spatio-temporal dynamics of an emblematic bird voice of the neotropical forest: the song of the Screaming Piha (Lipaugus vociferans). Using recordings made in a French Guianan lowland forest, with an array of 24 microphones in a three dimensional space, we implemented a detection system based on spectrogram cross-correlation to trace the vocalisations of L. vociferans. We tuned the detection system based on the percentage area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve, finding a maximum of 95.88%. To strictly minimise false positives, we set the operating point to have 34.9% true positives and 0% false positives. We detected a total of 12,735 songs attributed to the study bird during 25 study days. We found that spatial patterns of lower activity corresponded to a zone having smaller trees and more tree gaps — a known liana forest patch — suggesting that Screaming Piha birds tend to avoid non-mature primary forests. The sampling sites near the creeks had more detections than the sites further away, suggesting that the lek mating arenas might be distributed strategically to be near to a source of water. We also found a marked temporal pattern. The lek was active during the whole day, from sunrise to sunset, with two peaks of activity shifted by more than 2 h from the dawn and dusk chorus. The approach described here can be tested using other conspicuous and stereotyped sounds that occur within a heterogeneous and noisy background. To decipher the complex interacting sounds of the tropical forest, these focal studies on specific acoustic elements should be complemented with community or soundscape analysis, to demonstrate the human impact on the ecosystem and to provide guidelines for natural resource management.     

The effects of Mexidol on food conditioning and synaptic fine structure of hippocampal field CA1 in rats exposed to a single acoustic stimulation with ultrasonic components

The effect of exposure of rats to a complex acoustic signal with ultrasonic components on line structure of synapses of the CA1 field of the hippocampus was studied during a course treatment (two weeks) with broad-spectrum antioxidant Mexidol. Under the same conditions, the time course of food conditioning by a conditioned tone stimulus and acquisition of trace conditioned reflex (time interval counting) were studied in the same rat group. Rats non-exposed to stress against the background of Mexidol and without Mexidol treatment served as control. Analysis of fine structure of the vesicle redistribution in CA1 synapses revealed a reduction of the efficacy of synaptic transmission a day after the exposure to the complex acoustic stimulus. We found a negative effect of the complex acoustic stimulus on conditioning by tone and acquisition of time-counting trace reflex by rats. This effect was shown to be normalized by the course Mexidol treatment. The results suggests the expediency of Mexidol application for prevention of cognitive disorders, which are frequent under stress-inducing conditions.     

Switch in antiviral specificity of a GTPase upon translocation from the cytoplasm to the nucleus.

The Mx2 protein of rats is a cytoplasmic GTPase that protects cells against vesicular stomatitis virus but not against influenza virus. Since vesicular stomatitis virus replicates in the cytoplasm and influenza virus replicates in the nucleus, it was possible that the antiviral specificity of rat Mx2 protein was determined solely by the protein's subcellular localization. Here, we found that, indeed, rat Mx2 protein lost its anti-vesicular stomatitis virus activity and gained anti-influenza virus activity when it was directed to the nucleus by way of a foreign nuclear-transport signal appended to its amino terminus. These data show that rat Mx2 protein possesses an antiviral activity that is revealed only when the protein is shuttled to the nucleus.     

Relation between the defensive behavior of altricial nestlings and the parameters of an alarm signal. Neuroethologic approach

The acoustic organization of the defensive behaviour was studied in Pied Flycatcher nestlings. Electrodes were chronically implanted into the field L and the neck muscles for auditory EPs and EMG recordings. A well developed defensive reaction which under natural conditions is elicited by species-specific alarm call, could be artificially provoked by monotonal 4.5-6 kHz bursts with repetition frequency of 4-0,8/s. The tone frequency was shown to be the critical acoustic parameter permitting the altricial nestlings to identify alarm vocalization and differentiate it from alimentary signals. The role of the burst repetition frequency is restricted to maintaining the tonic defensive activation in the course of the alarm signal presentation. Certain correlation was found between the time of regeneration of excitability in auditory structures and the burst repetition frequency in the species specific alarm signal.     

An increase in brain temperature in rats to the intranasal administration of thyroliberin

The integral rat brain temperature was measured by radiothermoscope after intranasal instillation of thyroliberin in a dose 400 mkg. The recording increase of temperature lasted during two hours after instillation. This phenomenon is based both on the direct action of thyroliberin and on its capacity to stimulate the induction of other regulatory peptides.     

Visual and acoustic communication in non-human animals: a comparison

The visual and auditory systems are two major sensory modalities employed in communication. Although communication in these two sensory modalities can serve analogous functions and evolve in response to similar selection forces, the two systems also operate under different constraints imposed by the environment and the degree to which these sensory modalities are recruited for non-communication functions. Also, the research traditions in each tend to differ, with studies of mechanisms of acoustic communication tending to take a more reductionist tack often concentrating on single signal parameters, and studies of visual communication tending to be more concerned with multivariate signal arrays in natural environments and higher level processing of such signals. Each research tradition would benefit by being more expansive in its approach.