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For undergrads looking to get started in a career in bioacoustics, is it better to get a degree in biology or in physics/acoustics? Or are there other degrees that students should consider?

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I think either, and the field needs both. I have colleagues with undergrad degrees in biology, physics, engineering, computer science, and English literature.

My own PhD and post-doc were in physics (developing detectors at CERN) and I now have a successful career as the main developer behind the PAMGuard software and play a lead role in a number of projects using PAMGuard at the University of St Andrews. However I am very dependent on my biologist colleagues for collaboration and guidance as I develop and implement projects and interpret the results. If you can, a sensible choice might be a physics undergraduate degree followed by a Masters degree in marine mammal science (or a terrestrial equivalent of course).

My best advice is that you should do what you enjoy and are good at, since developing any skill to a high level, along with hard work, will make you more employable.

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Caveat: I'm a physicist by education and have worked most of my working life in the underwater domain, but I had very fruitful discussions with biologists that are open to aspects of physics (acoustics, oceanography).

IMHO, what really counts is

  • trying to study what is difficult and not what is easy.
  • to be open to new methods
  • never to stop learning new concepts, methods.

OK, this is valid for all successful studies, so why not for bioacoustics?

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I think it depends on what aspect of bioacoustics they are interested in. I personally came from a biology background, but did an animal behavior Master's before then going into vocal communication research. If they're more interested in that kind of thing, like evolution of vocal communication, function of calls, passive acoustic monitoring, etc. than ecology/biology I think would be more helpful. They also could still take a physics/acoustics class or 2 as well, as an elective beyond their major requirements. I ended up taking a neurobio course that was about signal processing and the brain-side of communication, for example, which was very much outside the animal science major I was in but gave me a supplementary knowledge base of that area.

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I think the one thing I wish I had taken more classes in is engineering, actually. I think both physics and biology are important. I find that many older researchers got into the field via physics or physiology, while younger researchers via biology. However, all of us consult / contract engineers, both hardware and software, to help us collect the data.

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    $\begingroup$ Completely agree on the importance of engineering when dealing with PAM. I guess, someone with a minimum education in engineering would not have problems with getting data out of a soundtrap with dead battery. He/she will simply open the soundtrap and take the microSD card. I know manufacturers do not encourage such interferences, but knowledge in engineering helps tremendously. $\endgroup$
    – WMXZ
    Commented Jul 24, 2022 at 9:54
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I may be something of an outlier here in the community here. I've come into bioacoustics in the past couple of years from a background in sound design, sound art and music composition. My postgraduate work (MA, 2010) investigated attentive modes of listening when applied to the field of sound art composition and reception.

Adjacent to this, field recording and acoustic cartography have been a large part of my work for the last ten years or so. Then, through my work (day job) I was introduced to data science tools (R and Python) and I've been learning these since 2020, readily applying aspects of data analysis and statistical methods within my acoustic ecology practice.

Would I recommend going about a foray into bioacoustics this way? Ideally not, since I've encountered multiple roadblocks in my knowledge along the way, which a background in ecology and/or physics would otherwise complement. Obviously, my own background in sound design applications and - more specifically - acoustics is very useful, but there have been frequent times I've encountered knowledge gaps.

As a couple of others have pointed out though, and based upon discussions I've had with practitioners in ecology, physics, et al, the field of bioacoustics certainly benefits greatly from different backgrounds and perspectives, and based upon my own experience, it is an enormously supportive and enthusiastic community.

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