Analysis of spatial-temporal variations in coral reef transients observed off the coast of Hawaii

Short duration acoustic transients are a conspicuous mechanism of sound generation by organisms within a coral reef environment. In this work, we investigate patterns of transients recorded in a coral reef environment during a crepuscular period associated with interactions between species. Video synchronized to hydrophone array element recordings at three different locations were used to identify times and positions of coral reef species interactions, i.e., predator-prey interactions. Normalized, directional audio reconstructions along fixed bearing directions were analyzed with a power law detector at different temporal resolutions to identify the occurrence of transient events. Segmented transients were collated with time and incident direction information and grouped into temporal windows within the audio reconstruction. Dimensional reduction of the transient audio was applied and changes in temporal characteristics of the compressed features associated with particular species were evaluated. Analysis of the order-statistic normalizer and power law detector parameters to detect biological transients is also discussed.