Humans Destroy the Orchestra of Nature

“The great orchestra of nature is, little by little, being silenced”

“LE MONDE | Mis à jour le 01.04.2013 à 13h10 Propos recueillis par Marie-Béatrice Baudet”

Musician from an early age, American Bernie Krause, 74, remains one of the emblematic figures of electronic music. He coined the term biophonie, the sounds made by living organisms. It is an orchestra of nature which he has studied and loved throughout a lifetime. In a recent interview he expressed his regret that the orchestra of nature is falling silent.

Starting in the 1960s he recorded the sounds in nature of more than 15,000 species of animals over 4500 hours. “Nature lives in acoustic harmony. Temperate or tropical forests each generate their own acoustic signature, which is an organized expression of insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals. Each creature occupies a slot in the sound spectrum, blending with the background sounds of nature, wind in trees, the sounds of flowing water, or rain. Whatever the purpose of a signal - mating, hunting, home defense, game - to fulfill its function, it must be audible and without interference. It is this natural voice and collective harmony to which I am referring when I talk about the animal orchestra”.

The contemporary world of human sound has disrupted the orchestra of nature. Mining, logging, urban sprawl, and the resulting pollution, reduce the area of ​​wildlife habitat. Similarly, by embedding the natural sounds under our cacophony, we disrupt or destroy nature itself. When birds can no longer hear the song s of other birds, they cease to sing.

Some animals, such as insects, are more affected than others. In tropical forests, predators try to adapt because it is more difficult to hear their prey. Human noise can also weaken the immune system of mammals and fish, reducing their resistance to disease, natural physiological result of high levels of stress hormone. In the most serious cases, when tolerances are exceeded, it can be fatal.

“The sad truth is that almost 50% of the habitats listed in my archives collected during these forty-five years are now so severely degraded that many of these natural sounds, once so rich, can no longer be heard today even approximately, in their original form.”