cicada acoustic spectrum (IMAGE)
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Through an emerging technology called distributed fiber optic sensing, cables bringing high-speed internet to American households can be used to detect temperature changes, vibrations, and even sound. And periodical cicadas—the insects that emerge by the billions every 13 or 17 years and make a racket with their mating calls—are loud enough to be detected. A new study shows how fiber optic sensing could open new pathways for charting populations of these famously ephemeral bugs. Here, the variation in peak spectral frequency of the cicadas' chorus is charted over a five-day period when the study was conducted in 2021.
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Ozharar et al 2023, Journal of Insect Science
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