Overview

Preserving and restoring ecological integrity is a major goal of managing ecosystems. In the Great Lakes region, most assessments are performed with only a few parameters, such as fish and invertebrates biotic integrity and water clarity. A Thorough study of the physical, chemical and biological health of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is important for handling the complexity of watersheds. We are engaged in an innovative monitoring program to thoroughly study the ecological integrity of streams, lakes and wetlands within a model watershed, the Muskegon River Watershed (MRW). The assessment program includes developing response-stressor-land use models to manage watersheds and exciting new measurement systems that will engage and educate stake holders about the intrinsic value of ecosystems and how human activities affect them.
We have four different types of recordings:

Permanent Sites

A Permanent Recording Site houses a computer, fully automated to record selected data at half-hour intervals. These recording systems are referred to as Sonic Measurement Instruments, and are developing versions that are entirely field-deployable for an unlimited timeframe. The basic SMI consists of a computer with a microphone system attached. Software in the computer sets it to record thirty seconds of sound from the microphone every thirty minutes. If conditions permit, an SMI may also have a camera or weather station attached to it, thereby allowing comparison of the sound data to other environmental measurements. There are currently five Permanent Recording Sites currently active in the Muskegon River Watershed. They are located at Townline Lake, the Haymarsh Wetlands, the Cooper Residence (Agriculture), the Main Channel of the Muskegon River near Big Rapids, and the Main Channel of the Muskegon River in Muskegon. Presently, only the machine at Townline Lake is transmitting its recordings back to the server in real time, but project coordinators are working on implementing this satellite system on other sites in the watershed. Click to view Methods for Buffering Permanent Sites. {top}

Volunteer Sites

Throughout the course of the project, several members of the community have volunteered to make regular recordings of their local sounds. This has helped increase data resolution and frequency, thereby providing more information about the features of the landscapes comprising the Muskegon River Watershed. Volunteers mainly conduct recordings with Mini Disk systems (provided by the project) several times a week at dawn and dusk, the two most acoustically active times of day for the majority of vocal organisms. {top}

Aquatic Sites

At these sites, sound is recorded only once. {top}