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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- @myoung
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Lecturer and researcher interested in rural applications of Interaction Design. Spent more than a decade teaching in Asia-Pacific (India, China, Singapore, Australia); now based at Glasgow School of Art's rural campus in Forres, Scottish Highlands.
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Snow Leopard Trust
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Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
I am a biologist interested in land use change impacts on biodiversity and sustainable value chains. I work with productive sectors, incorporating biodiversity conservation as a criteria for planning and managing productive systems.
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- @jcturn3
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Colorado State University
I am a graduate student at Colorado State University working to develop novel acoustic technology for remotely monitoring wildlife.
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British-Costa Rican | Interested in transdisciplinary research in Planetary Health amongst other things
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NbS Expert/ Environmentalist
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- @Carlos_Araujo
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Apenas um rapaz, latino-americano sem dinheiro no bolso.
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20+ years traveler and management consultant turned tech founder and conservationist. Founder & CEO of ZAMBEZI ZERØ; super intelligence to safeguard biodiversity.
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Product Designer focusing on a project about marine mammal conservation.
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Sea Mammal Research Unit Univ' St Andrews
I work in marine bioacoustics with a focus on the conservation of marine mammals. Most of the time I'm developing and using passive acoustic technology to study the underwater behaviour of dolphins and porpoises. I'm also a keen developer on the PAMGuard project.
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InsectSet459 - the first large-scale open dataset of insect sounds, featuring 26,399 audio clips from 459 species of Orthoptera and Cicadidae.
24 March 2025
Careers
Naturalis is looking for a postdoc in AI for Ultrasonic Bioacoustic Monitoring
24 March 2025
Careers
Postdoctoral opening in the Bioacoustics and Behavioral Ecology Lab at Syracuse University
14 March 2025
Funding
BirdCLEF+ 2025
Alex Rood
Species identification from audio, focused on birds, amphibians, mammals and insects from the Middle Magdalena Valley of Colombia.
12 March 2025
Careers
Postdoc in bird modelling and remote sensing
Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
Building species-specific habitat models for forest bird species using state of the art methods and remote sensing layers
28 February 2025
Funding
Osa Conservation is launching our inaugural cohort of the ‘Susan Wojcicki Research Fellowship’ for 2025, worth up to $15,000 per awardee (award value dependent on project length and number of awards given each year)....
10 February 2025
Article
workshop introduced participants to the power of bioinformatics and next-generation sequencing (NGS) in conservation biology.
10 February 2025
Link
New paper - "acoupi integrates audio recording, AI-based data processing, data management, and real-time wireless messaging into a unified and configurable framework. We demonstrate the flexibility of acoupi by...
7 February 2025
Careers
Live and work in sunny San Diego for the summer, contributing to engineering projects as they relate to conservation technology.
6 February 2025
Careers
SDZWA Conservation Tech Summer Fellowship
Kyra Swanson
The Conservation Technology Laboratory within the Population Sustainability department is seeking two fellows for summer 2025
5 February 2025
Careers
PhD-project Benefit of Broadleaves for Bats, Birds and Beetles
Tim R. Hofmeester
Fully funded 4 year doctoral student position
16 December 2024
Careers
AI Researcher / Doctoral Candidate
Thiago Gouvêa
Develop state-of-the-art interactive ML-based tools for biodiverstiy conservation and related applications
11 December 2024
August 2025
event
Louisa Richmond-Coggan
September 2025
October 2025
event
Vanesa Reyes
November 2025
December 2023
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joachim and Carlos, Thank you both very much for all your help so far with this problem, all of your input is very constructive. I have had look into the CCTV tech and also... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 5 months ago | |
| What frequecy are you looking to record, how long does the mic need to run for, what is the distance between the microphone and the "listening" site? As... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 5 months ago | |
| How about using Kaleidoscope and the cluster analysis tool? Works fine, and is super-quick.. Ta, Carlos |
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Acoustics | 6 years 5 months ago | |
| I'll be there - on the Wildlife Acoustics stand... Please come and say hi! Carlos |
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Acoustics | 6 years 5 months ago | |
| Update The current AudioMoth group purchase reached our stock level of 1550 devices, hence the campaign has closed early. We'll now set up the manufacturing run and update... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 5 months ago | |
| Please find attached, a short note wherein we propose 03 postulates of soundscape ecology. The focus here is in soundscapes than sound of... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 5 months ago | |
| Dear colleagues, we are designing a study to document presence or absence of spider monkeys in forest fragments in western Ecuador. We... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 6 months ago | |
| Thanks! We also just posted info on the AVISONA 2019 event to the resources page for anyone who missed it and wants to learn more. |
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Acoustics | 6 years 6 months ago | |
| Forgot to say - if you are having trouble reformatting SDcards on Windows- the project suggests this programme http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm. |
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Acoustics | 6 years 7 months ago | |
| Over the past year I have been involved in a project trying to detect illegal fish bomb blasts in Tanzania using acoustics. We have 4 long... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 7 months ago | |
| Hi, I've made an initial attemp to design a 3D printed case for an audiomoth (with 3 x AAA battery pack) and have made it available... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 7 months ago | |
| Hi All, These are well-produced online introductory videos for the use of the Raven software for acoustic analyses. Really... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 8 months ago |
