Heather Spence, Marine Biologist

The Fourth Annual Whale Shark Festival will be held in Isla Mujeres this month (main events July 15-17), bringing together scientists and others from around the world to compare notes and celebrate the world’s largest fish, and the richness of the waters off the Yucatan Peninsula that attract the world’s largest aggregations of these polka-dotted gentle giants.

Scientific presentations will be given on Saturday July 16, including “Learning by Listening: Passive Acoustic Monitoring in the Mexican Caribbean” by Heather Spence, presented by Rafael de la Parra (Proyecto Domino).

For a full schedule of events (mostly free!), go to the whale shark festival webpage

And for more info about events on and around World Listening Day (July 18) go to the World Listening Project webpage

The show is called “Chundereke” – a parallel universe where everything is fun and very easy to do

Sunday, June 12 in Playa del Carmen at 5pm
Teatro del Arbol

A show for the whole family, with magic, live music, dance, clowns, storytelling, circus arts, more…

and yours truly on cello

Slides from my Animal Behavior class presentation yesterday:

Click here for PDF – Animal Behavior Presentation on Honest Signals

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bunnies illustrate honest signal concept

The first sounds from the Ecological Acoustic Recorder have successfully been recorded and retrieved. This is the first acoustic monitoring data from the region, and we are excited to listen to them.

Last September, when we deployed the EAR off the coast of Isla Contoy, it looked like this:

EAR, the day of deployment, September 19, 2010

When we retrieved the EAR, after four months of deployment, it looked like this:

EAR, the day of retrieval, Jan 18, 2011

We brought it back to the lab, disassembled it, retrieved the data, reset the recorder and put it back together.

Three days later, we put it back in the water:

Jan 21, 2011, EAR in boat immediately before redeployment.

Thank you to all the groups who have contributed to this project, including:

Michelle’s Earth Foundation, Comision Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas, Project Domino, Universidad del Caribe, Oceanwide Science Institute, University of North Carolina, Asterisk tours, Obi Kue tours

Photo credits: Rafael de la Parra

I saw this at the premier, and there is a dancing, singing tarantula.

Max and Moritz in NYC
New York Opera Society
“Max and Moritz: A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks” by Gisle Kverndokk

location:
At 350 Grand Street Between Ludlow and Essex

Thursday, October 28, 2010
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Mexico Bioacoustics Project deployed the Ecological Acoustic Recorder (EAR) off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula! Check out some pictures below!

Thank you to the deployment team, from Project Domino, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the Mexican Government (CONANP), and the many scientists who collaborated with me to get my project this far. More than two years of planning and fundraising have been necessary to reach this major milestone.

This Project, to study the sounds of animals, including crustaceans, fish and marine mammals, is a step toward developing new ways to monitor the health of coastal ecosystems. It is part of my vision to establish an international center for sustainability studies in Cancun, Mexico.

The Bioacoustics Project is made possible by Michelle’s Earth Foundation, in partnership with Oceanwide Science Institute.

You can help!
-Offer your special skills to the project (translation, diving, computer, acoustics, website, etc.)
-Suggest or comment, by email or on my website.
-Encourage others to get involved.
-Make a donation to the Bioacoustics Project through Michelle’s Earth Foundation.
-Listen to your world, tell me what you hear.

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The EAR was deployed off of Isla Contoy, an island near Cancun, Mexico that is protected by the federal government as a bird sanctuary. This area is a bridge between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean/MesoAmerican Reef System – highly diverse, and an important migration route.

Isla Contoy, view from observation tower

Ecological Acoustic Recorder, being prepared for deployment

Deployment team inspects potential deployment area

Moving the mooring for the EAR

Ecological Acoustic Recorder, secured to mooring on sea floor

Returning after successful EAR deployment

Photo credits: Don Hodges, Patricia Gray, Heather Spence

World Listening Day is July 18!

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World Listening Day will be celebrated on the island of Isla Mujeres with a workshop for kids about the science of sound, bioacoustics, and the role of sound in the environment.  Students will learn about sound and how it travels through air and water, and listen to and compare recorded sounds of marine mammals, invertebrates, fish and boats. This workshop is being run through the Comision Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas (National Commission of Protected Areas).

Birds alter their songs in response to noise – and the media is picking up on it:

Washington Post article “Song sparrows adjust their songs to fit in with urban noise”

ABC Science show “Birds raise their voice over noisy traffic”

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From Washington Post April 20 2010:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced a new initiative to address the controversial issues of sonar and other ocean noise impacts on marine mammals and other species. Planned measures include new cetacean and sea turtle surveys and monitoring, and a workshop to create a “comprehensive sound budget for the oceans.”

For more information, read the letter from Dr. Lubchenco.

Saturday Nov 14
@ Casa de la Cultura

Flamenco show extravaganza

Including Dancing, and Puppets, and Dancing Puppets, and Cello and Cello Puppets and Circus arts….
80p
starts at 8pm

See you there!