Скачать или смотреть Eastern Mountain Maple, Green Fogs, and a Chipmunk

I captured this soundscape while standing underneath an Eastern Mountain Maple during the green frog breeding season in Litchfield, CT. Setting up my equipment underneath the tree, and next to a pond where the frogs had congregated to compete for call time and recognition, I was able to listen to and record some very vigorous frog calls along with the gentle, nonharmonic flapping of the maple leaves (at about the 1'10" this activity enters the recorded sonic texture). Also recorded, was a curious chipmunk who kept approaching me and the microphone, muttering something or another - before darting off again. Hence, the periodic surprises of accented rustlings from the forest ground.

Acoustic communication is essential for the frog's survival in both territorial defense and in localization and attraction of mates. Sounds from frogs travel through the air, through water, and through the substrate (the surface where a plant or animal grows on). The green frog males song an accented 'twang' sound, similar to the banjo, or in my opinion, more akin to the sanxian, which is a Chinese lute — a three-stringed fretless and plucked instrument.

Unfortunately, for female frogs, increasing noise from nearby traffic, airplanes, construction and other human ambient noises have been shown to slow their abilities to listen for and locate male frogs that are calling for their services during the mating season. Unfortunately, many species of frogs have struggled to adapt their calls to the growing demands of increased environmental noise, which environmentalists say could lead to less reproduction and a decline in the population of these frogs.

Females must recognize the male they choose by his call. By localizing where his call is coming from she can find him. An additional challenge is that she is localizing his call while listening to the many other frogs in the chorus, and to the noise of the stream and insects. The breeding pond is a very noisy place, and females must distinguish a male's calls from the other noise. How they recognize the sound pattern of the male they are pursuing from the surrounding noise is similar to how intelligent hearing aids help people hear certain sounds and cancel out others.