Honours projects

CMST takes on domestic and international Honours students. At Curtin University, the Honours degree is a one-year full-time course, during which the students take a few selected classes, and then spend most of the year researching a topic, that needs to be written up as an Honours thesis before the year is over.

Tuition fees apply for Honours students.

Honours students can enrol either in Semester 1 (February), or in Semester 2 (i.e., mid-year, August).

We have the following one-year Honours projects available.

In January 2014 the WAVES expedition (Centre for Whale Research, Curtin University and University of Alaska) deployed a high resolution “Lander” tag on a feeding humpback whale and followed it for 12 hours with a Biosonics DTX single-beam sonar running. The tag was recovered and contained good sensor data from 3-axis accelerometers, magnetic heading orientation, depth, temperature and GPS location, combined with sonar data of the krill patches the whale was feeding on. The tag data will allow the student to calculate feeding rates and to correlate these with biomass of the krill patch the whale passed through. The krill patch was remarkably fluid with time, the dynamics of this can be investigated and linked to how the feeding humpback exploited the krill patch. This work would best be tackled by a student with some grounding in physics or maths as analysis of the tag and sonar data is challenging, although we can supply software for analysis.

CMST has a large archive of ocean noise which shows seasonal visitation along the WA coast by dwarf minke, Bryde’s and fin whales. None of this acoustic data has been analysed in any depth for the migratory patterns or calling behaviour of the respective whale. Analysis of existing data sets is an ideal Honours or Masters project and may lead into field studies of the respective species, which are poorly known in the Australian context. The work would suit students with some technical or maths/computing background.

In January 2014 the WAVES expedition (Centre for Whale Research and Curtin) collected almost 30 days of sonobuoy data from the Southern Ocean and east Antarctic ice edge. The data sets are rich in biological signals (whales and seals mostly), physical sea noise (storm and ice asssociated) and man-made noise (seismic survey from Australian shelf break at 1200 n mile). Several of the sonobuoys were deployed in broadband mode and have some surprising signals in the high frequencies. Most sonobuoy deployments allow bearing estimation of the sources detected. The data can be analysed for biological signals or physical sea noise sources and offers an opportunity for a student to become involved in bioacoustic analysis while studying the Antarctic environment.

Each summer a large number of mulloway enter the Swan River to spawn, forming an aggregation each night around the Mosman Bay area. CMST deploys an underwater noise logger in Mosman Bay, recording advertisement calls as males attempt to attract females. This aggregation moves up and down the Swan River in the late afternoon and around sunset, varying with the season, lunar phase and tide times. A number of projects may be conducted at this location from analysing mulloway calls or monitoring aggregation movement patterns, to assessing the level of call discrimination by attracting female mulloway with Acoustically Baited Remote Underwater Videos (ABRUVS). This project will require analytical skills and Matlab programming. Boating experience preferential.

The marine soundscape can be split into its biophony (the sounds of whales, dolphins, fish, crustaceans etc.), geophony (the sounds of wind, rain, waves, ice etc.) and anthrophony (the sounds of human/industrial operations). Ship traffic is the most persistent source of man-made noise in the marine environment—with potentially significant bioacoustic impacts on marine fauna, most of which rely heavily on acoustics for their critical life functions. CMST has recorded the marine soundscape around Australia for 15 years at various sites. Using publicly available position logs of large vessels, we can 1) compute received levels of individual ships, 2) calculate source levels of individual ships by sound propagation modeling, and 3) determine the contribution of shipping to the local noise budgets. This project will suit a mathematically skilled student with some experience in scientific software development, data analysis and numerical modeling. An acoustic background is NOT necessary.

Acoustic tags are increasingly used to track behavioural patterns of numerous marine species, but the long-term performance of the pinging tags and stationary receivers is rarely tested. Bio-fouling of the receivers, for example, holds potential to significantly reduce performance, affecting the results of marine studies. This project aims to assess directionality, source levels and detection ranges of some acoustic tags in a practical environment and the propagation of their signals. A number of acoustic tag receivers are located at the Mullaloo Beach Lab site. Working in collaboration with Mullaloo Beach Surf LifeSavers tags are to be periodically located in and around the array while tag source levels are also tested. Matlab programming skills will be developed. Kayaking experience preferential.

We are looking for two Honours students interested in studying cockatoo acoustics for a year. Black cockatoos, Calyptorhynchus sp., are endangered and specially protected in Western Australia. There is a regular citizen science survey, called the Great Cocky Count, which has provided crucial information on black cockatoo populations.

Cockatoos are noisy. They produce sounds that differ by species, age, gender and behaviour. We want to explore whether passive acoustic listening can provide additional data on population size, distribution and demographics. We have preliminary recordings of Carnaby’s cockatoos near the Curtin University Bentley campus, and of red-tailed black cockatoos in John Forrest National Park. The Honours students will be involved in additional field work, including recordings and visual observations, establish a call repertoire of these two species, correlate calls with behaviour and demographic parameters, and potentially look at changes in calling behaviour as a function of human disturbance.

This Honours project will use passive acoustic monitoring (i.e., analysing sound from autonomous underwater acoustic recorders) to quantify and characterise the marine soundscape in the above two habitats, compare the soundscapes, quantify the amount of man-made (boat) noise and see if noise might affect dolphin ecology.

This Honours project will focus on dolphin bioacoustics; recording, characterising and quantifying these animals’ sound repertoire; individually distinctive signature whistles; and linking sound production with behaviour.

This Honours project will use passive acoustic monitoring (i.e., listening to dolphin sounds from underwater acoustic recordings) to document and map their distribution and analyse geospatial and temporal distribution patterns.