The Hudson Ecological Acoustics Research (HEAR) project is partially funded by the NERRS Science Collaborative and deploys audio recorders on the shoreline and underwater at locations along New York’s Hudson River Estuary. The audio devices record sounds of the surrounding environment, gathering information about individual species as well as entire ecosystems. HEAR seeks to understand habitat use by fish such as Atlantic and Shortnose Sturgeon, American Shad, Striped Bass and Freshwater Drum.
Established in 2020, Hudson Ecological Acoustic Research (HEAR) uses Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) to augment ongoing long-term monitoring conducted by the NYSDEC Hudson and Delaware Fisheries Unit.
Passive acoustic hydrophone recorders are deployed in shallow-water habitats at Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve sites, and in nearby deep-water channel areas.
HEAR project objectives are to:
- Record and characterize soundscapes using passive acoustic monitoring.
- Increase temporal and spatial understanding of important managed fish species in the Hudson River Estuary.
- Develop a reference library of underwater sounds.
project documents
This poster was shared at the 2022 NERRS/NERRA Annual Meeting.