Our voice contains a lot of information about us, how we look, how we feel, whether we are sick or whether we are talking to a friend or to our boss. Does this information also exist in animal voices? Answering this question is the goal of our research group. Thereby, we are also interested to use this knowledge to develop bioacoustics monitoring systems. These systems can be be applicated in basic and applied research, e.g., monitoring animal welfare, health and wildlife populations, investigating social relationships between conspecifics/owners, or for phenotyping animal models. We study a wide range of animal species from the small Etruscan shrew to the white rhinoceros to better understand the evolution of acoustic communication.
Current research projects
Rhinoceros
Primates
Mongolian gerbils and Etruscan shrew
Domestic cats
Method spectrum
Bio- and Psychoacoustic:
- Recording systems for frequency ranges from infrasound to ultrasound
- Acoustic analysis software: Batsound, Avisoft, Signal, Praat, Deep Squeak, R
- Playback systems for the audible and ultrasonic range
- Sound chamber for small mammals
Behaviour:
- Video surveillance for diurnal and nocturnal animals
- Videographic analysis with the help of Observer XT, Interact or Boris
- Experimental behavioral setups e.g. open-field, y-maze
- Computerized behavioral platforms and operant conditioning boxes
The team
Team leader: Dr. rer. nat. Marina Scheumann
Masterstudents
Ronja Härdtner (extern)
Alumni
Dr. Daniel Romero-Mujalli
(Universität Greifswald)
Dr. Julia Jenikejew
(Tiho Hannover, ITAW)
Dr. Sabrina Linn
(Zoo Frankfurt)