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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- @BrunaTeixeira
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Master and PhD student in the Postgraduate Program in Animal Biology. She works mainly in Landscape Ecology with an emphasis on bioacoustics and interactions between primates.
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- @hannahrisser
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CEH
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Wildlife Drones
Wildlife Drones has developed the world’s most innovative radio animal-tracking system using drones so you can track your radio-tagged animals like never before.
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International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Key Biodiversity Areas Programme Officer, IUCN
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- @chenxing3
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- @affiliatepurna
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Purna Man Shrestha is a program coordinator of mountain spirit, Nepal. He has 6 years of working experience in human wildlife interaction focusing on wildcats, and conflicts. He has a good knowledge on wildlife survey techniques, field survey, stakeholder engagement
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Assiniboine Park Conservancy
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Interested in automated insect monitoring.
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- @JeremyFroidevaux
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Careers
Acoustic Monitoring Biologist (Avian)
Jerry Cole
The Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) seeks a biologist to assist with an autonomous recording unit (ARU) bird monitoring project at California off-highway vehicle recreation parks and other ARU monitoring projects...
19 October 2022
Link
"We develop the use of benthic species as animal oceanographers by combining archival (depth, temperature) data from animal-borne tags, passive acoustic telemetry & citizen-science mark-recapture records for the...
10 October 2022
Careers
Open Position at Cornell - Software/Firmware Developer
Holger Klinck
The Yang Center is seeking a Software/Firmware Developer responsible for designing, developing, improving, and maintaining embedded systems to acquire and process bioacoustic data. The
6 October 2022
Article
Audio Across Domains Workshop 2022
Tessa Rhinehart
A collaborative and cross-disciplinary meeting of audio data scientists spawns creative research collaborations
3 October 2022
Link
Authors developed system to acoustically identify individual animals (under varying conditions) using combo of multi-scale information integration, multi-channel audio & multi-task learning. Tested on captive group...
3 October 2022
Link
'The low-power camera uses power from harvested acoustic energy and communicates colour images wirelessly via acoustic backscatter.' - https://twitter.com/NaturePortfolio/status/1574863768714100738?s=20&t=...
29 September 2022
Authors 'examined effectiveness of acoustic monitoring compared to capture-based & video monitoring of seasonal swarming behavior among Myotis bats in UK. The 3 approaches have advantages & disadvantages for...
27 September 2022
Link
Authors demonstrated "a low cost, simple method to support acoustic tag surveys by identifying tags both from direct acoustic recordings & by reconstructing code packets from processed C-POD data. Method was applied...
26 September 2022
Careers
The Senior Conservation Technology Specialist will be responsible for providing technical advice and capacity development to GWP project teams on conservation technology, distilling challenges and lessons from project...
22 September 2022
Link
Authors developed reproducible passive acoustic monitoring pipeline to rapidly provide baseline information on invasive alien species (IAS); found that IAS occurrence related to high levels of human disturbance.
21 September 2022
Link
Authors "developed a three-hydrophone passive acoustic monitoring system that provides bearing information along with marine mammal detections to allow for informed management decisions in real-time."
20 September 2022
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Julia Wiel
July 2025
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Vanesa Reyes
November 2025
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61 Products
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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| 'Most importantly, we have to make it play a MIDI version of the DoctorWho theme song when you arm the device. That has to be the #1 feature if you ask me!' Seconded! |
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Acoustics, Animal Movement, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 1 year 1 month ago | |
| We've deployed passive acoustic monitors in various urban environments without any issues of theft, even in locations where camera traps and other technology has been historically... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 1 month ago | |
| We could always use more contributors in open source projects. In most open source companies Red Hat, Anaconda, Red Hat and Mozilla, people often ended up getting hired largely... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Early Career, Marine Conservation | 1 year 1 month ago | |
| Hello everyone, I'm interested in gathering insights on how the behavior of different species impacts the development and efficacy of... |
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Animal Movement, Acoustics, Camera Traps, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Marine Conservation | 1 year 2 months ago | |
| Thank you Carly, I will definitely take a look. |
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Acoustics, Animal Movement, Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Geospatial, Software Development | 1 year 2 months ago | |
| Hi @timbirdweather I've now got them up and running and winding how I can provide feedback on species ID to improve the accuracy over time. It would be really powerful to have a... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Emerging Tech | 1 year 2 months ago | |
| Really interesting project. Interesting chip set you found. With up to around 2mb sram that’s quite a high memory for a ultra low power soc I think.It might also be... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation | 1 year 2 months ago | |
| Hi everyone, I am currently working on the vocal repertoire of an Amazon turtle species and would appreciate if someone would be open... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 2 months ago | |
| Thank you so much for your encouraging words! I'm thrilled to hear that you enjoyed our conversation, and I truly appreciate your support in spreading the word about my survey... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation | 1 year 2 months ago | |
| I heard it through industry chatter but can't find a news release on it yet. |
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Acoustics | 1 year 2 months ago | |
| Hi everyone,I posted this mystery recording to Twitter already, but perhaps this forum will have more ideas... Over the years, my lab... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 2 months ago | |
| Hi Danilo. you seem very passionate about this initiative which is a good start.It is an interesting coincidence that I am starting another project for the coral reefs in the... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Camera Traps, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Community Base, Connectivity, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Sensors, Software Development, Wildlife Crime, Funding and Finance | 1 year 3 months ago |
