Can you hear a forest disappear?

In this episode of Science Quickly, filmmaker and journalist Leah Varjacques takes us to a Bornean rainforest area, where centuries-old patterns of human and wildlife behavior are being disrupted by the construction of a new capital city. In the midst of all this change, Varjacques documents the work of Wendy Erb, a primatologist and bioacoustic scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Erb’s team, working with members of the local Balik population, placed audio recorders around the forest to capture the sounds of this diverse ecosystem before it changes forever. Recommended Reading: Can you hear a forest disappearing? Scientists are trying to find out E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. This episode was reported and narrated by Leah Varjacques, with additional voiceover work by Rizky Rahad. This story was made possible by a grant from the Pulitzer Center and published in partnership with Project Multatuli. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices