All individual organisms interact with their environment (consisting of both animate and inanimate components), and exchange materials, energy, and sensory information.
In particular, many species rely on vocalizations for information such as potential mates, nearby predators, or food availability.
Anthropogenic changes to acoustic environments have had perhaps the most significant impacts on species that rely on auditory cues for foraging and communication.
[9] These studies demonstrate the importance of auditory cues and have resulted in calls for the preservation of “soundscapes", or the collective sounds of ecosystems.
These activities can impede the ability of fish to hear sounds, and can interfere with communication, predator avoidance, prey detection, and even navigation.
Studies have found that the sounds created by wind turbines may have significant effects on the communication of marine mammal species such as seals and porpoises.
For example, a recent report assessed the risks of the acoustic changes brought on by offshore wind farms on fish communities.
For example, ecologists have found that lights on tall structures can disorient migrating birds, leading to millions of deaths each year.
The same researchers, for example, have suggested pairing light reduction with dune restoration to improve hatchling orientation and success.
In addition, researchers have used information on the sensory ecology of sea turtles to decrease their bycatch rate by fishermen.
[24] In this recent study, this method led to decreases in turtle bycatch while imposing no noticeable reduction on fishing yield.
A goal of sensory ecologists has been to study what environmental information is most important in determining how these organisms perceive their world.
[27] A number of bat species fall also prey to ecological traps that are the result of man-made surfaces.
One of the recent areas of focus of avian sensory ecology has been on how birds may perceive large wind turbines and other buildings.
Each year, countless birds die after colliding with power lines, fences, wind turbines, and buildings.
[30] Other researchers have suggested that warning sounds or visual cues placed on the ground may help reduce bird collisions.
[31] By adjusting the other sensory cues of birds, ecologists may help reduce the presence of avian ecological traps around these structures.
Managers have used sensory ecology to create highly individualized visual, pheromonal, and chemical traps for pests.
Scientists have suggested that this may be the result of a preference for yellow leaves, which tend to have higher flows of accessible nitrogen sources.
This method has been used to capture and control species such as sugarcane weevils,[35] gypsy moths,[36] invasive oriental fruit flies,[37] bark beetles,[38] and Carpophilus spp.