Five years of data collection, student theses, and disseminating information soundscape studies in the Gulf of Tribugá, Colombia

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2024-03, Vol.155 (3_Supplement), p.A95-A95
• Main Authors: Seger, Kerri D., Perazio, Christina E., Farias Curtidor, Nohelia, Huertas-Amaya, L. V., Rey-Baquero, Maria P., Norena, Daniel, Palanca, Mar, Brown, Astarte, Ramirez Caycedo, Valentina, Botero-Acosta, Natalia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/10.0026930

In 2018, the Ports, Humpbacks, y Sound In Colombia (PHySIC) Project began to record soundscapes in the Gulf of Tribugá, Northern Colombian Pacific, for the first time. This was of interest to local conservation groups who were against building a megaport in the native mangrove habitat that provides livelihoods for the people of Chocó. Five years later, no port has been built, documentaries about the ecosystem have won awards, before-after/control-impact studies have been done on fish and humpback whale acoustic behavior, delphinid call catalogs have been assembled, propagation modeling has mapped acoustic connectivity, and a new vocalization category for humpback whales has been discovered. The work has been executed through internships, and undergraduate and masters theses at various universities. This project has a variety of data-to-information challenges: storing data for access across various countries, navigating data analysis and dissemination in two languages, transferring knowledge as students graduate, and tailoring results for general conservation groups and policymaking audiences. To celebrate the colleagueship and academic successes of the first five years of PHySIC, this talk will describe the list of discoveries and studies done in the Gulf of Tribugá, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in the summer of 2023.