Your Support Is Already Making an Impact

It’s been an exciting year for the Opsanus Fund. Thanks to our donors, we’ve been able to support projects that put acoustic science into action—from listening for frogs in Nigeria to studying fish hearing in Washington and bringing wildlife monitoring directly into a high school classroom.

Here’s a quick look at the work our grants are supporting.

Listening for Amphibians in Nigeria

This summer, Chukwudi, a PhD student at Howard University, completed fieldwork on the Obudu Plateau in Cross River State, Nigeria. His project is introducing passive acoustic monitoring to amphibian research in the region.

Researcher placing a recorder purchased using an Opsanus Fund grant

During a week of fieldwork in June, the team deployed a Song Meter Mini recorder at sites across the plateau, pairing the recordings with traditional visual surveys. Opsanus Fund support helped purchase the recorder and contributed to

transportation and field expenses.

Now comes the listening: the team will analyze the recordings to identify species and better understand when and where amphibians are calling.

Understanding How Boat Noise Affects Fish Hearing

Aoi analyzing scientific data

At the University of Washington, PhD student Aoi is developing a system that can simultaneously record underwater sound and the hearing responses of fish.

Her research will examine how naturally occurring watercraft noise affects auditory responses in plainfin midshipman fish.

Ultimately, the research could help us better understand how real-world vessel noise affects fishes—not just in a laboratory, but in the environments where they actually live.

Bringing Acoustic Ecology into the Classroom

Our education giving is also helping put acoustic monitoring tools directly into students’ hands.

At Evanston Township High School in Illinois, zoology teacher Greg used grant funding to purchase a recorder which will enable a long-term wildlife acoustic monitoring station on the school campus. Students will use recordings of birds and other vocal wildlife to explore biodiver

Northern Cardinal recording made at Evanston Township High School.

sity, seasonal changes, and how environmental conditions influence animal activity.

The project is designed to reach approximately 1,100 students each year, giving high school students experience with real ecological data, spectrograms, hypothesis testing, statistics, and scientific communication.

Thank You for Helping Us Listen

These projects are very different, but they share a common idea: listening can help us better understand—and ultimately protect—the natural world.

We’re grateful to everyone who has donated to the Opsanus Fund. Your support is helping researchers collect new data, giving students access to real scientific tools, and expanding the ways acoustic monitoring can contribute to conservation.

Listen. Learn. Protect.