How Animals Use Sound to Communicate
This interactive module explores how different animals — elephants, birds, and bats — have evolved distinct ways of using sound to communicate. Animals have evolved a variety of mechanisms to communicate with each other for mating, defense, and other social interactions. In this Click & Learn, students will explore three case studies of how animals use sound and hearing to communicate, and how aspects of their communication systems have been shaped by evolution. The first case involves long-distance, low-frequency sounds used by elephants. The second study focuses on species-specific courtship songs used by finches. The third case discusses ultrasound used by bats and their prey, moths. Students can also investigate the basic properties of sound and sound perception in the “Sound Tutorial” section.
Exploring Trophic Cascades
This interactive module explores examples of how changes in one species can affect species at other trophic levels and ultimately the entire ecosystem. Trophic cascades refer to impacts that reach beyond adjacent trophic levels. This Click & Learn first walks students through a classic trophic cascade triggered by the loss of sea otters from a kelp forest ecosystem. Students then test their understanding of trophic cascades in four other case studies, where they predict the relationships among different species and the consequences of ecosystem changes. The case studies demonstrate how indirect effects mediated by changes in one species can broadly alter many aspects of community function.
The Serengeti Rules
Travel back in time, from the Arctic Ocean to Pacific tide pools, with a pioneering group of scientists who make surprising discoveries that transform human understanding of nature and ecology. Based on a book of the same name, The Serengeti Rules had its theatrical premiere at Tribeca Film Festival and has won awards at the 2018 Wildscreen Panda Awards and Jackson Hole Science Media Awards.​