Assessment of plant structural characteristics, health, and ecology using bioacoustic tools

Authors: Mankin, Richard; STANALAND, D - Florida A & M University; HASEEB, M - Florida A & M University; ROHDE, B - University Of Florida; MENOCAL, O - University Of Florida; CARRILO, D - University Of Florida; WIGNALL, A - Massey University

Submitted to: Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA)
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/30/2018
Publication Date: 10/8/2018
Citation: Mankin, R.W., Stanaland, D.R., Haseeb, M., Rohde, B., Menocal, O., Carrilo, D., Wignall, A.E. 2018. Assessment of plant structural characteristics, health, and ecology using bioacoustic tools. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0000902.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0000902

Interpretive Summary: Plant cell walls and tree architectures have evolved to have strong mechanical properties that withstand environmental stresses and insect attack. Bioacoustic tools have been applied to measure these properties, monitor plant health, and assess the quality of marketable plant products, as well as to detect hidden infestations of invasive insect species and to monitor insect movement, feeding, and mating activities on host plants. For this report, students and scientists at the University of Florida, Florida A&M University, and Massey University, and scientists at the USDA-ARS, Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, FL, used bioacoustic tools to detect and monitor activity of pest insects in Florida and Ohio. Signal processing methods are described whereby combinations of spectral-, temporal-, and spatial-distribution features of signals detected in plants can be interpreted in ways that enable reliable assessment of hidden pest infestations, including invasive insect species of importance for plant biosecurity.

Technical Abstract: Plants have responded to abiotic stress and biotic threats with evolutionary adaptations resulting in a variety of plant architectures and cell walls with economically important mechanical properties. Bioacoustic tools have been applied to measure mechanical properties of plant structures, optimize mechanical harvesting, and detect the distribution of root systems, as well as to monitor plant health, photosynthesis, and ecology, and to assess the quality of marketable plant products. In addition, acoustic and vibration sensors are used by entomologists to detect hidden infestations of invasive insect species and to monitor insect movement, feeding, and mating activities on host plants. Reliable identification and interpretation of insect-produced sounds and vibrations on and within plants is complicated by physical processes that filter and distort vibrations as they pass through and reflect from different plant structures and the air. This report considers the use of bioacoustic tools to analyze plant health and structural characteristics, and then discusses how combinations of spectral-, temporal-, and spatial-distribution features of signals detected in plants can be interpreted in ways that properly account for plant structural vibrational filtering and distortion processes and enable reliable assessment of hidden pest infestations, including invasive insect species of importance for plant biosecurity.