Biotremology

Traditionally regarded part of bioacoustics, the discipline has recently begun to actively diverge on its own, because of the many peculiarities of the studied modality compared with sound.

[8] While many experimental approaches are shared between the two disciplines, scientists in the field of biotremology often use special equipment, such as laser vibrometers, for detecting faint vibrational emissions by animals and electromagnetic transducers in contact with the substrate for artificial playback experiments.

Swedish entomologist Frej Ossiannilsson pioneered the field in 1949 by suggesting vibrations transmitted through plants play a role in insect communication.

His work demonstrating this suggestion was not heeded by contemporaries because many zoologists believed that such small animals are physically incapable of conveying information through solid substrates.

Only with the advent of accessible signal processing technology decades later did the work by other pioneering individuals and groups, such as the Slovenian zoologist Matija Gogala, establish the basis of biotremology.

Elephants produce low-frequency rumbles which travel over long distances as seismic waves and are detected by sense organs in the elephant's feet. [ 1 ]
Leafhoppers are a group of insects known for using only vibrational signals during courtship. They also comprise numerous pests (the American grapevine leafhopper pictured), so biotremologists are developing alternative methods of pest control on this basis. [ 10 ]