Acoustic sensors enable efficient and non-invasive monitoring of a wide range of species, including many that are difficult to monitor in other ways. Although they were initially limited in application scope largely due to cost and hardware constraints, the development of low-cost, open-source models like the Audiomoth in recent years has increased access immensely and opened up new avenues of research. For example, some teams are using them to identify illicit human activities through the detection of associated sounds, like gunshots, vehicles, or chainsaws (e.g. OpenEars).
With this relatively novel dimension of wildlife monitoring rapidly advancing in both marine and terrestrial systems, it is crucial that we identify and share information about the utility and constraints of these sensors to inform efforts. A recent study identified advancements in hardware and machine learning applications, as well as early development of acoustic biodiversity indicators, as factors facilitating progress in the field. In terms of limitations, the authors highlight insufficient reference sound libraries, a lack of open-source audio processing tools, and a need for standardization of survey and analysis protocols. They also stress the importance of collaboration in moving forward, which is precisely what this group will aim to facilitate.
If you're new to acoustic monitoring and want to get up to speed on the basics, check out these beginner's resources and conversations from across the WILDLABS platform:
Three Resources for Beginners:
- Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics, Adam Welz
- Ecoacoustics and Biodiversity Monitoring, RSEC Journal
- Monitoring Ecosystems through Sound: The Present and Future of Passive Acoustics, Ella Browning and Rory Gibb
Three Forum Threads for Beginners:
- AudioMoth user guide | Tessa Rhinehart
- Audiomoth and Natterjack Monitoring (UK) | Stuart Newson
- Help with analysing bat recordings from Audiomoth | Carlos Abrahams
Three Tutorials for Beginners:
- "How do I perform automated recordings of bird assemblages?" | Carlos Abrahams, Tech Tutors
- "How do I scale up acoustic surveys with Audiomoths and automated processing?" | Tessa Rhinehart, Tech Tutors
- Acoustic Monitoring | David Watson, Ruby Lee, Andy Hill, and Dimitri Ponirakis, Virtual Meetups
Want to know more about acoustic monitoring and learn from experts in the WILDLABS community? Jump into the discussion in our Acoustic Monitoring group!
Header image: Carly Batist
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Biologist I consider myself a data scientist with a passion for nature and with an extensive experience in species distribution modeling, handling large data sets from different sources such as gbif, eBird, xeno-canto, Worldclim, Terraclimate, ocean color e NASA among others. But
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Founder & CEO of we.are.tohorā, creating a community that cares about whales, the environment and each other.
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- @bumbleben
- | He/Him
Junior dev in a bioacoustics startup, interested in all forms of remote sensing and biologging
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IBM
Software Engineer for last 20 years and running a conservation organization for last 3 years, looking for more opportunities to implement tech skills for conservation
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- @Gathoni
- | Her/she
PhD Candidate at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Ecologist with a passion for wildlife conservation and conservation technology with foundational training in BSc and MSc Rangeland Management (Ecology option). Current project: Use of acoustics to monitor ecosystem restoration.
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Prospective PhD students with a background in acoustics and an interest in Arctic ecology are encouraged to email Michelle EH Fournet
16 November 2023
Sarab Sethi is looking for a PhD student (Sept 24) to investigate real time insect pollinator monitoring with acoustics. Sensor design, ML, lab and field experiments, and more !
16 November 2023
Join the Rainforest Connection & Arbimon team to develop software for biodiversity monitoring!
14 November 2023
Yale University & Map of Life Rapid Assessments - XPRIZE
8 November 2023
Baker Consultants has released new ecoacoustic research assessing the benefits of using automated detectors alongside transect bird survey methods.
30 October 2023
Article
Five #tech4wildlife people, projects and updates that caught my attention this month. This issue is a naturetech, biodiversity startup edition! Featuring a living map of the biodiversity startup scene, is nature data...
27 October 2023
Careers
The Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) seeks a California-based acoustic monitoring specialist to collect, manage, and process avian acoustic data from multiple research and conservation projects across California...
26 October 2023
With the rising threats to biodiversity such as wildlife crime, climate change and human-wildlife conflict today, wildlife monitoring technologies have become vital to study movement ecology, behaviour patterns, changes...
25 October 2023
To study song evolution in time and space, we will use individual acoustic monitoring (IAM) - a non-invasive method that allows the identification of individuals based solely on their vocalisations. In this project, we...
20 October 2023
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Fellowship in Bioacoustic AI for wildlife protection. The PhD position advertised here will be based at the KU Leuven Electrical Engineering Department (ESAT), under the supervision of...
20 October 2023
FLOATERS: Using individually distinct vocalizations to estimate breeding and non-breeding population of a species. Apply for the fully funded PhD position now!
20 October 2023
The Kitzes Lab at the University of Pittsburgh (http://kitzeslab.org) is seeking applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar, Research Assistant, and Graduate Student to work in the areas of bioacoustics, quantitative...
28 September 2023
June 2024
July 2024
event
September 2024
event
November 2023
October 2023
event
43 Products
Recently updated products
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
---|---|---|---|---|
If you search Digikey for a 'strain relief' you should be able to find a rubber grommet that will hold that mic without any additional machining. A blob of silicone will adhesive... |
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Acoustics | 2 hours 56 minutes ago | |
Hello everyone, We are in the process of developing a new MSc in Conservation Technology at my university and would welcome your... |
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Build Your Own Data Logger Community, AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Biologging, Camera Traps, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Acoustics, Community Base, Connectivity, Conservation Dogs, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Drones, Early Career, Earth Observation 101 Community, East Africa Community, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Footprint Identification Technique (FIT), Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions, Protected Area Management Tools, Remote Sensing & GIS, Sensors, Software and Mobile Apps, Sustainable Fishing Challenges, Wildlife Crime, Women in Conservation Tech Programme (WiCT) | 5 hours 4 minutes ago | |
Thanks Carly! I had reviewed some of the help files, but clearly not the right ones!My email is [email protected] |
|
Acoustics, Software and Mobile Apps | 22 hours 32 minutes ago | |
Hi Tabitha, What recording settings were you using when you saw these differences? I've measured the consumption across some different firmware versions and I can't see any... |
+10
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Acoustics | 5 days 9 hours ago | |
Wow.. Really exciting to see this effort. Congratulations on the award!I have been interested in this subject for a long time, as we have elephant-human conflicts in plenty in... |
+7
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Acoustics | 1 week 3 days ago | |
Hello!Long time, no update. @StephODonnell suggested I post here with my thesis and some reflections. ---------------------------------------------------------TL;DR... |
+19
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Acoustics | 2 weeks 6 days ago | |
I think I've landed on the Wildlife Acoustics Song Meter Mini Bat 2 for now, but I'm definitely interested to see how this cheaper tech progresses |
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Acoustics | 2 weeks 6 days ago | |
Hi Jesse,For a material to be acoustically transparent (in air), the speed of sound in the material times its density must match that of air. Realistically, any solid... |
+1
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Acoustics, Biologging | 3 weeks ago | |
Hi Steph, We appreciate the support! Thanks for the tag and your help managing the community!Patrick |
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Sensors, Acoustics, Conservation Dogs, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions | 3 weeks ago | |
Hi Sol,If the maximum depth is 30m, it would be worth experimenting with HydroMoth in this application especially if the deployment time is short. As Matt says, the air-filed case... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech, Sustainable Fishing Challenges | 3 weeks ago | |
Oh wow, thank you so much!!!I will keep that four advices in mind! |
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Acoustics | 3 weeks 1 day ago | |
You won't get any audio if you don't allow enough time for the hydromoth/audiomoth to write. So when you do a continuous recording you need to experiment a little. I'm sure there... |
+3
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Acoustics | 3 weeks 2 days ago |
Join the BirdNET team!
9 September 2022 2:43pm
BOEM job openings
Postdoctoral Fellow in Soundscape Ecology at Purdue University
8 September 2022 4:12pm
Catch Up with the Variety Hour: September 2022
6 September 2022 12:31pm
Postdoc: Noise Impacts on Marine Animals
1 September 2022 9:25pm
New paper - 'soundClass: An automatic sound classification tool for biodiversity monitoring using machine learning'
1 September 2022 8:53pm
Silva et al -
- R package to train convolutional neural networks & employ them to classify sounds
- sound event classification pipeline, from annotating recordings to automating
trained networks
- case studies with bat & whale echolocation calls, bird songs
Solicitation of Interest: NAVFAC Atlantic Marine Resources
31 August 2022 7:28pm
Acoustics Modeler & Analyst, Marine Acoustics Inc
30 August 2022 9:45am
Conservation Technology Research Internship
26 August 2022 4:58pm
New paper: Acoustic indices as proxies for biodiversity: a meta-analysis
22 August 2022 4:03am
First seen on Diego Llusia's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DiegoLlusia/status/1561275951463415808?s=20&t=5Z-Do…
Ceres Wild Rhino application
22 August 2022 1:29am
Replacement acoustic membranes for Audiomoth case
31 May 2022 2:15pm
9 June 2022 11:35am
Hi carly,
You've probably seen this already as we tagged you, but I'm dropping it here in case anyone else is having the same issue!
We used the plastic from a stronger A4 plastic folder-case taped. Don't know the type, the one we keep our fieldnotes...
— Attila D. Sandor (@adsandor) June 9, 2022
9 June 2022 1:09pm
@alex_rogers jumping in too:
@groupgetscom has the original vent fitted to the case in stock and available individually - https://t.co/IozIRPVPOS. There is also a UK-based specialist who can provide small numbers of vents - https://t.co/wrQy80Xx0I.
— Alex Rogers (@alex_rogers_cs) June 9, 2022
20 August 2022 9:49am
Alex,
which one of those
https://selectronix.co.uk/collections/waterproof-acoustic-vents
would be the appropriate for the Audiomoth case?
Agus
Looking for plant and animal eco-acoustics specialists in the Alps
10 August 2022 3:01pm
10 August 2022 3:24pm
Hey maya,
If you're free - come along to our Variety Hour call next week and ask folks there too. We're keeping the last 10 mins open for people to jump up and put out calls like this!
Steph
Catch Up with the WILDLABS Variety Hour: August 2022
10 August 2022 11:44am
Product Grant Program
9 August 2022 7:09pm
African Bioacoustics Conference 2022
5 August 2022 3:08pm
IBAC Online Symposium 2022 - Frontiers in Bioacoustics
5 August 2022 2:42pm
Opportunity: Postdoctoral Researcher
4 August 2022 9:08pm
HydroMoth GroupGets campaign
28 June 2022 11:07am
20 July 2022 3:06am
From Alex on Twitter:
Yes. The HydroMoth has the same microphone and firmware as the standard AudioMoth which is widely used for terrestrial conservation. You would need the standard green case which has a waterproof acoustic vent.
20 July 2022 5:57pm
@Andrew_Hill Out of curiosity, since this campaign reached its goal & is ending soon, is it possible to turn the remaining Hydromoth units that didn't sell into Audiomoths for a limited GroupGets? I understand that Hydromoths can be used terrestrially as well, but they are more expensive than the last Audiomoth campaigns have been by $50+ so just wanted to see if Audiomoths would still be cheaper. Just trying to figure out if I should buy more Hydromoths or wait until Audiomoths start selling again (ends up being a trade-off between cost and time basically).
31 July 2022 5:20pm
@Andrew_Hill I wonder if you could let us know more about the time keeping difference btw the regular AudioMoth and the HydroMoth (which is said to do better)?
Bioacoustics Stack Exchange has reached the public beta stage!
28 July 2022 3:14pm
Looking for specialists in eco-acoustics (Alp region) for Documentary
18 July 2022 5:17pm
Earth Species Project - Senior AI Research Scientist
15 July 2022 6:40pm
CIEEM 2022 Summer Conference
12 July 2022 12:33am
Renaming files with incorrect timestamps
28 June 2022 2:12am
4 July 2022 2:39pm
Hi Carly,
has your issue been resolved yet? Could you link the stackoverflow question maybe? Otherwise this seems like a few lines of python code may solve this. I could assist with this if required.
R is usually not the obvious choice for file level operations :)
5 July 2022 4:03pm
Just posting the link to the Bioacoustics Stack Exchange post where I asked this as well, some other people gave code as well (though I haven't had time to try it as it has been a holiday weekend here in the US).
8 July 2022 10:40pm
I don't know if this was resolved, but if you copy this code into a python file in the same folder as your .wav files and then run it, it should rename everything. Try testing it on a copy first in case something is off! This assumes that all devices are named "swift1" and all .wav files are in the same folder.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#Reset timestamps for passive acoustic recorders
import os
from datetime import datetime,timedelta
from time import strftime
#Set Path to where you placed this file - Should be placed in folder with all recordings
os.chdir(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
#Start Date YYYY-MONTH-DAY and Time HR:MIN:SEC
start_date = "2022-06-17"
start_time= "T09:30:00"
curr_time = start_date+start_time
time = datetime.fromisoformat(curr_time)
incby = timedelta(minutes=20)
#For all .wav files in folder, set name to updated YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS and the increment by 20 minutes.
for file in os.listdir():
tnameform = "swift1_"+time.strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S.wav")
if file[-4:] == ".wav":
os.rename(file,tnameform)
time = time + incby
Bioacoustics Stack Exchange Beta is live & we need your help!
6 July 2022 3:13pm
Bioacoustic Stack Exchange
26 August 2020 12:09pm
28 August 2020 11:55am
I'm not a bioacoustics person but StackExchange has taught me more than half of what I know about GIS as a professional. I still regularly use and recommend it to people wanting to improve their skills at any level. Perhaps there needs to be more awareness raising amongst the bioacoustics community (as you are doing here!) about just how useful it can be, to build up the critical mass. Sadly I don't have 200 points to throw behind this, but I'll look out for anyone who does and might be tempted. Good luck!
7 May 2021 2:02pm
Were you ever able to get a Bioacoustics StackExchange off the ground? An annual retry? :)
5 July 2022 3:21pm
Hi just bringing this thread back up to attention: the bioacoustics stackexchange is now up and running in beta form, and could use as much participation as possible to ensure its establishment as a community. bioacoustics.stackexchange.com
If anyone is interested in getting in and can't get an invite, please feel free to DM me and I'll pass one along.
1.5 TB micro SD
28 June 2022 9:10am
28 June 2022 11:33pm
If only I didn't work in rainforests where canopies preclude solar panels.... *sigh* lol
29 June 2022 5:28am
Went down a rabbit hole reading the battery threads on here. It strikes me that gravity batteries might be a good solution in rainforests. String a line over the highest branch you can and then raise as much weight as you can. I'm unfamiliar with the power requirements of camera traps / audiomoths but I might do some napkin calcs if i'm bored this week. @carlybatist
29 June 2022 6:06am
Hmm 20kg raised 5m would only buy you less than half an AA battery assuming 100% efficiency. Lame, so much for that idea.
New Conservation Tech Directory update
27 June 2022 4:45pm
Acoustic multilateration for gibbons
22 June 2022 11:49am
23 June 2022 2:03pm
Awesome stuff!! Interested in what kind of recorders you are using and how are you sync'ing them for the TDOA?
New papers on passive acoustic monitoring
21 June 2022 9:44pm
29 September 2022 4:05am