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!
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Marine bioacoustics is making waves in Science News!
3 April 2024
Careers
What can soundscapes tell us about ecosystem functioning and health? We are looking to hire a postdoctoral researcher in ecoacoustics for Nature Recovery at Oxford
2 April 2024
Link
Hi, I am Anish and I'm new to this platform! I host the Think Wildlife Podcast and wanted to share a recent episode with Bourhan Yassini. We talk in-depth about the role of AI and bioacoustics in conservation. Tune...
28 March 2024
Link
The Freshwater Sounds Archive
Jack Greenhalgh
Introducing The Freshwater Sounds Archive, a global database of sounds produced by freshwater species. Submit your species-specific or unidentified sounds to the archive now and receive recognition for your...
15 March 2024
Careers
Hussey Labs seeks a senior post-doctoral researcher/senior research associate for movement ecology of Greenland halibut in the context of fisheries management across Baffin Bay-Davis Strait, Eastern Canadian Arctic.
13 March 2024
Article
Catch up on the conservation tech discussions and events that happened during World Wildlife Day 2024!
7 March 2024
Careers
A PHD POSITION AT NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY
Consolata Gathoni Gitau
Do you know anyone interested in this position? Let them know by sharing widely.
27 February 2024
Careers
The Ecological Acoustics and Behavior Lab at the University of New Hampshire seeks a PhD student to join our lab to investigate how forest habitat affects moose occupancy and soundscape in northern New Hampshire
13 February 2024
Careers
The primary focus of the research is to explore how red deer movements, space use, habitat selection and foraging behaviour change during the wolf recolonization process.
10 February 2024
Link
These researchers are introduce the ISPA (Inter-Species Phonetic Alphabet) as a new way to precisely interpret and transcribe animal sounds. By using text to represent sounds, existing human language machine learning...
8 February 2024
Careers
PhD Opportunity - Exploring plants’ sensing capability with vibroacoustics
University of Southampton
Applications open for a PhD position in plant vibroacoustics at the University of Southampton
8 February 2024
Article
We demonstrate the power of using passive acoustic monitoring & machine learning to survey species, using ruffed lemurs in southeastern Madagascar as an example.
23 January 2024
June 2025
event
Julia Wiel
July 2025
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October 2025
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Vanesa Reyes
November 2025
November 2023
61 Products
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thank you Stefan! Will follow up with your email shortly. |
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Acoustics, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Hi Joan,Sounds like a great project! I would recommend having a look at some of the nice review literature and guidelines that are out there, like - https://www.researchgate.... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Thanks Akiba, good to know you had no problems with those, and those cases look good. Having read a bit more, it actually seems that in theory there is no limit to the number of... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 6 months ago | |
| You're awesome Tim, thank you! However, we ordered another from GroupGets yesterday and it's arriving tomorrow, so we (should) be good to go : ) Now if I can only get... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 6 months ago | |
| Brilliant - thank you.! Great idea about the screen too - I'm replacing some of them monthly so may try that myself. Have you found any issues with the mesh generating... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 6 months ago | |
| Hi Vicki,I've sent you a private message. |
+1
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Acoustics | 1 year 6 months ago | |
| Thank you! |
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Acoustics | 1 year 6 months ago | |
| A few more! |
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Acoustics | 1 year 7 months ago | |
| Hi, thanks so much for getting back. You can reach me at j.insupp@fh-cuas.at |
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Acoustics | 1 year 7 months ago | |
| Hi everyone, I wanted to provide an update on behalf of Wildlife Acoustics regarding some of these comments in this thread. As some of you may know, we have just announced... |
+19
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Acoustics, Sensors | 1 year 7 months ago | |
| I second that! |
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Acoustics | 1 year 8 months ago | |
| Hi Wildlabbers!We were asked to share this opportunity to present at the upcoming Audiomoth conference:Presenters are urgently needed -... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 8 months ago |
