The first-of-its-kind laboratory to study chirping of birds, sounds made by mammals and insects is in its final stage. The institution will be operational within a month on the premises of Garware College.
Sources in the laboratory said that a data bank with sound patterns of hundreds of different species from Western Ghats and other areas have been kept ready for the laboratory. Students, amateurs will be highly benefited as there is huge scope for further research in this field, which remained neglected in India, till now.
‘Ornithology, Ethno-Ornithology and Natural Sound laboratory is an initiative by Ela Foundation and Abasaheb Garware College. Their basic objective is to set-up a laboratory to study Ornithology, Ethno-Ornithology and Natural Sounds in a more systematic and scientific manner.
“The study of sound patterns of birds, mammals, amphibians and insects is crucial in bio-diversity studies. However, it has been neglected in India and no research has been done so far,” said Dr Satish Pande, director of Ela Foundation. He further said that by studying their sound pattern, one can locate their habitat. He said, “By using certain softwares in the laboratory, they can analyse sound patterns of the animals and through them their behavioral pattern.”
There are three branches, Ornithology, Ethno-Ornithology and Natural Sound, which will be studies in the upcoming lab. In ornithology, there will be six different sections like Ornithology and Virology, Migratory study of birds, the effect of wind farms on the birds, thermal power projects and Ornithology, effect of airport Ornithology and Ornithology Conservation education.
“Birds like eagle can be conserved by connecting science, nature and culture,” he said. Speaking about the third aspect, natural sounds, he said, “Every bird, mammal and insect has its distinct sound and every sound conveys a different message like mating, hunger, declaring one’s territory, the arrival of a predator, nest building etc. All these sound will be researched and analysed in the laboratory and through that more information on their habitat and behaviour will be generated and that will be helpful in future research.
Rajgopal Patil, in charge acoustics section said few modern softwares have been installed in the laboratory to analyse the sounds of the birds. “Since it requires multidisciplinary skills involving Sound Engineering, Biology, Biodiversity and Physics, it will provide more avenues for students and researchers in future,” he said.
Dr Shrikant Gupta, the principal of Garware College said, “We have already introduced a three-month course in Ornithology and to take the particular subject to a new height and to inculcate the interest regarding bio-diversity and bird habitat. The college has come together with Ela Foundation to start the laboratory and now the lab will be operational within a month.”
“We have requested the University of Pune to induct the three month course in Ornithology in the credit system format so that students from other streams can take up the subject,” he said.
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