Research Focus on Dr. Eric Montie

Dr. Eric Montie, USC Beaufort, is working in the relatively new scientific field of soundscape ecology using sound to characterize ecosystems, which can be helpful in tracking species movements, population sizes, reproductive behavior, and overall habitat quality.

“We have a strong undergraduate research program that focuses on soundscape ecology, listening to the underwater sounds continuously and long-term.” says Montie. “Using sound, we can characterize ecosystems, which can be helpful in tracking species movements, population sizes, reproductive behavior, and overall habitat quality – investigating how climate change affects all levels of biological organization including the behavior of snapping shrimp, the timing of fish reproduction, and coastal migratory movement of bottlenose dolphins. In addition, we have projects on the impacts of anthropogenic noise on the acoustic communication of marine organisms.”


Funding: Montie recently received a USC ASPIRE II grant ("Building a USC Interdisciplinary Team to Study the Impacts of Anthropogenic Noise on the Behavior of Marine Organisms") in the amount of $99,619 to use passive and active acoustics to study fish spawning aggregations and how boat noise may impact these aggregations, as well as a subaward from the SC Aquarium in the amount of $265,883 to study human-made noise in Charleston Harbor and how it may affect the acoustic communication of marine organisms including bottlenose dolphins.


Click download PDF of Research Focus on Dr. Eric Montie

May 22, 2017