Ashakur Rahaman

Ashik Rahaman on a TSS auto-buoy (AB) deployment in Massachusetts Bay.
Ashik Rahaman on a TSS auto-buoy (AB) deployment trip in Massachusetts Bay.

I coordinate the real-time right whale monitoring project in Massachusetts Bay that the Center for Coastal Study has been working on for more than a decade. Large-scale data analysis and integration of technological advancements in conservation practices has been a focal point of this effort. Also, I coordinate education and outreach efforts to communicate our research findings to a wide range of stakeholder groups.

Growing up at the edge of the Bay of Bengal and Sundarban, the largest mangrove forest in the world, introduced me to the sights and sounds of the natural world and shaped my personal and professional life. I have witnessed the struggle between human interest and a declining natural world firsthand. I have seen how human interest pushed the royal Bengal tigers to the edge of extinction and how a changing climate threatened the livelihood of millions of people in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. These experiences shaped my determination for advancing our understanding of large-scale ecological phenomena and sharing information with various stakeholder communities about potential conservation solutions. I am actively involved in environmental conservation through scientific inquiries and public engagement.

Inspiration

Listening to the sounds of marine and terrestrial bioacoustics is my passion. Working in the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics  has opened my eyes to the relationship between the acoustic world and anthropogenic factors that influence our soundscapes.

Year Hired: 2004

Contact Information
K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14850
Phone: +1.607.254.1101
Email: ar265@cornell.edu
Twitter: @SoundScienceAR

Degree(s): M.P.S., Cornell University; B.Sc., Khulna University, Bangladesh

Organizations: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Recent Publications

Estabrook, B.J. et al. (2022) ‘Dynamic spatiotemporal acoustic occurrence of North Atlantic right whales in the offshore Rhode Island and Massachusetts Wind Energy Areas’, Endangered Species Research, 49, pp. 115–133. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01206.
Wood, C.M. et al. (2022) ‘The machine learning–powered BirdNET App reduces barriers to global bird research by enabling citizen science participation’, PLOS Biology, 20(6), p. e3001670. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001670.
Rice, A.N. et al. (2014) ‘Variation of ocean acoustic environments along the western North Atlantic coast: A case study in context of the right whale migration route’, Ecological Informatics, 21, pp. 89–99.
Givens, G.H. et al. (2016) ‘Horvitz – Thompson whale abundance estimation adjusting for uncertain recapture, temporal availability variation, and intermittent effort’, Environmetrics, 27(3). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/env.2379.
Clark, C.W. et al. (2018) ‘Acoustic data from the spring 2011 bowhead whale census at Point Barrow, Alaska.’, Journal of Cetacean Management and Research, 19, pp. 31–42.