Soundscape Ecology represents a new branch of ecology and it is the result of the integration of different disciplines like Landscape ecology, Bioacoustics, Acoustic ecology, Biosemiotics, etc. The soundscape that is the object of this discipline, is defined as the acoustic context resulting from natural and human originated sounds and it is considered a relevant environmental proxy for animal and human life. With Soundscape Ecology Almo Farina means to offer a new cultural tool to investigate a partially explored component of the environmental complexity.
For this he intends to set the principles of this new discipline, to delineate the epistemic domain in which to develop new ideas and theories and to describe the necessary integration with all the other ecological/environmental disciplines.
Soundscape Ecology is organized in ten chapters. The first two chapters delineate principles and theory of soundscape ecology. Chapters three and four describe the bioacoustic and communication theories. Chapter five is devoted to the human dimension of soundscape. Chapters six to eight regard the major sonic patterns like noise, choruses and vibrations. Chapter nine is devoted to the methods in soundscape ecology and finally chapter ten describes the application of the soundscape analysis.
Preface
1 Soundscape & Landscape Ecologies
2 The Sonic Characters of the Landscapes
3 Bioacoustic Theories
4 Communication Theories
5 The Human Dimension of the Soundscape: from Individuals to Society
6 Sonic Patterns I: The Noise
7 Sonic Patterns II: The Choruses
8 Sonic Patterns III: Sounds and Vibrations from Soils
9 Methods
10 Applications
Index
"[...] this text is a bold attempt to define the discipline, with an inevitable emphasis upon biophonies and anthrophonies, as opposed to the less well studied geophonies. Similarly, birds figure very prominently as their vocalisations and sensitivities to environmental sound have been much studied. An emphasis upon the way humans perceive, value and are impacted by sound gives this book added value to those interested in the management of environmental sound."
- John Hopkins, The Bulletin of the British Ecological Society 46(1), March 2015