Wendy Erb, Ph.D.

Despite housing some of the richest biocultural hotspots on Earth, the tropical forests of Borneo are experiencing rapid degradation amplified by climate change. As escalating pressures threaten wide-ranging changes for ecosystems, people, and wildlife across the region, the need to understand and respond to these threats requires bridging theories and methods from diverse knowledge systems. Dr. Erb’s transdisciplinary work draws on theories and methods from bioacoustics, anthropology, local knowledge systems, and the arts to collaboratively design, interpret, and disseminate research with forest-dependent communities in Indonesian Borneo. Deploying autonomous recording units, Dr. Erb uses soundscape recordings to monitor the spatio-temporal dynamics of endangered wildlife populations, noise pollution, and human-environment relationships. Learning with and from local communities, Dr. Erb explores how inclusive, sound-based research praxis can help identify strategies for preserving and restoring relationships among people, nature, and place.