Hi everyone, Bioacoustics Data Analysis (BIAC06) – Applications for Evolutionary Biology 19–23 October 2026 | 20 hours | £400 | Live Online https://prstats.org/course/bioacoustics-data-analysis-biac06/ Delivered by Dr Marcelo Araya-Salas, a behavioural ecologist and scientific programmer specialising in animal communication and bioacoustics. Marcelo is the developer of several R packages for bioacoustic research, including warbleR, Rraven and baRulho. His research combines behavioural ecology, evolutionary biology and quantitative acoustic analysis to investigate the diversity and evolution of animal communication. Learn how to analyse animal acoustic signals using R, from the fundamental principles of digital sound and spectrograms through to quantitative measurements, signal comparison, acoustic spaces and the analysis of vocal sequences. Acoustic signals are complex phenotypic traits that can vary among individuals, populations and species. Quantitative bioacoustic methods therefore provide powerful tools for investigating signal evolution, geographic and population-level variation, behavioural divergence, communication systems and the diversification of acoustic traits. What you'll gain Understand the fundamentals of digital sound and bioacoustic data Import, manipulate and manage audio data in R Work with different audio formats and wave objects Understand Fourier transforms and spectrograms Produce and customise spectrograms Filter, resample and process acoustic recordings Measure the frequency, duration and amplitude of acoustic signals Import and work with Raven Pro annotations Automate acoustic measurements using warbleR Perform quality control on acoustic measurements Analyse harmonic structure and timbre Work with Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) Compare acoustic signals using cross-correlation Apply dynamic time warping to signal comparison Understand and quantify signal-to-noise ratio Analyse songs, calls and other vocal sequences Explore acoustic spaces and vocal diversity Quantify variation in acoustic traits among individuals, populations and species Develop reproducible bioacoustic workflows in R Course format Dates: 19–23 October 2026 Time: 13:30–17:30 UK time each day Duration: 5 days, 4 hours per day (20 hours total) Format: Live online Combination of lectures and hands-on practical exercises Practical analysis conducted in R Course materials and example datasets provided All sessions recorded 30 days' access to recordings 30 days of post-course email support Course fee: £400 Who is this course for? The course is particularly suitable for students and researchers working in: Evolutionary biology Evolutionary ecology Animal communication Behavioural ecology Bioacoustics and ecoacoustics Acoustic trait evolution Population and geographic variation Comparative biology Ornithology Marine mammal research Wildlife biology Biodiversity and conservation research It will be particularly useful for evolutionary researchers interested in variation and divergence in acoustic traits, including studies comparing vocalisations among individuals, populations, species, geographic regions or evolutionary lineages. Participants should have a basic understanding of statistics and some previous experience using R. Why take this course? Animal vocalisations provide rich quantitative phenotypic data for investigating evolutionary questions. Differences in signal frequency, duration, structure and complexity can reflect variation among individuals and populations, environmental conditions, behavioural processes and evolutionary divergence. This course provides the practical tools needed to convert recordings into quantitative acoustic measurements, allowing researchers to characterise and compare vocal variation systematically. Methods such as cross-correlation, dynamic time warping, MFCCs and acoustic-space analysis provide different approaches for quantifying similarities and differences among signals. For evolutionary biologists, these approaches can contribute to research on signal diversification, geographic variation, population differentiation, behavioural evolution and the evolution of animal communication, while providing reproducible workflows for analysing acoustic data in R. Please feel free to share this course with colleagues, friends, research groups, labs, and others within your institute, organisation, or wider research network. Learn more & enrol Bioacoustics Data Analysis (BIAC06) https://prstats.org/course/bioacoustics-data-analysis-biac06/ Questions? Email: oliver@prstats.org Best wishes, Oliver Hooker (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to evoldir@evoldir.net)