Ecoacoustics is a relatively new cross-diciplinary science that involves ecology and acoustics. It differs from the closely related field of bioacoustics, measuring the acoustic properties of a whole environment (instead of isolating one lifeform or another) in order to better understand the complex dynamics of an ecosystem. It can be very useful in tracking populations of fauna that would be otherwise nearly unmeasurable.
On September 11, 2009 there was a so-called 'cricket crawl' where people freely sought to record a common true katydid and their recordings were uploaded to scientists to study.