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
- @Antonio.A.Ferraz
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Scientist interested in integrating remotely sensed habitat characterization with animal movement and acoustics datasets for conservation applications. Working at JPL and UCLA-IoES affliated
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- @Andrew_Hill
- | He/Him
Open Acoustic Devices
I am co-founder of Open Acoustic Devices, the creators of AudioMoth and HydroMoth. My background is Electronic Engineering and Computer Science.
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- @crazybirdguy
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Field Biologist at Yayasan Cikananga Konservasi Terpadu, Indonesia, with experience and interest mainly in ornithology, citizen science and bioaccoustic
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PhD Candidate in autonomous marine biodiversity modelling
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- 11 Discussions
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FruitPunch AI
CTO and Founder of FruitPunch AI
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- 4 Discussions
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San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
Wildlife ecologist with a passtion for conseration technology.
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 4 Groups
PhD Candidate at University College London. Research and develop wireless sensor networks for biodiversity monitoring. Currently working on a software package for AI bioacoustics classifiers on edge device.
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Saint Louis Zoo
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- @alex_rogers
- | He/him/his
University of Oxford
I am a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford where I work on developing novel low-cost conservation technology (including AudioMoth and SnapperGPS).
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- @diyaquanauts
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Digital nomad, software developer, running mechatronic engineering firm in Seychelles to assist ocean conservation groups.
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Community Announcement
WILDLABS Community Call Recording: Rainforest X-PRIZE
WILDLABS Admin
Our second WILDLABS Community Call took place on April 1st to continue the discussion started by Ben Tregenna in our Data Science group, in which he suggested the idea of submitting a collaborative entry to the X-Prize...
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2020 marked our fifth year holding our annual #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge, and our community made it a milestone to remember. Conservationists took to Twitter last week to share their best high-tech snapshots from...
4 March 2020
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Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics
WILDLABS Team
Researchers are increasingly placing microphones in forests and other ecosystems to monitor birds, insects, frogs, and other animals. As the technology advances and becomes less costly, proponents argue, bioacoustics is...
24 February 2020
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Technology lab focused on wildlife protection opens on Ol Pejeta Conservancy
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31 May 2019
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13 May 2019
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#Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge: Our Favourites from 2019
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Happy World Wildlife Day! To celebrate, this week we've asked our community to share photos showing how they are using tech in the field or the lab, using the #Tech4Wildlife hashtag.
3 March 2019
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Getting up close and personal with Antarctica's orcas
WILDLABS Team
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4 February 2019
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Monitoring Ecosystems through Sound: The Present and Future of Passive Acoustics
Ella Browning and 1 more
As human impacts on the world accelerate, so does the need for tools to monitor the effects we have on species and ecosystems. In this article, Ella Browning and Rory Gibb share insights from their recent review paper...
4 December 2018
Article
In this case study, conservation ecologist Ayesha Tulloch takes us behind the scenes of her recent paper, which came out in Nature Ecology & Evolution earlier this month. In this paper, Ayesha and her team present a...
20 August 2018
Article
The 2018 Ecoacoustics Congress Wrap-up
Anthony Truskinger
Last month, the 2018 Ecoacoustics Congress was held in Brisbane. Bringing together scientists, natural resource managers, industry and artists, participants explored the ways that sound can deepen our understanding of...
25 July 2018
June 2025
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Julia Wiel
July 2025
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October 2025
event
Vanesa Reyes
November 2025
July 2023
June 2023
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Stephanie O'Donnell
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Esther Githinji
May 2023
event
Wildlife Acoustics
April 2023
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Netty Cheruto
61 Products
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hi Teresa, Thanks for your interest in Arbimon! The platform has a couple different analysis tools that range from unsupervised (like audio event detection & clustering,... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 3 months ago | |
| Real nice video. I'll have another look in the weekend in detail. |
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Acoustics, Community Base, Protected Area Management Tools, Geospatial, Sensors | 1 year 3 months ago | |
| When it comes to long-range communication in the jungle, it can be challenging due to the dense vegetation that can obstruct radio waves.... |
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Acoustics, Connectivity | 1 year 3 months ago | |
| I would recommend going with Ubiquity 2.4Ghz devices which have performed relatively well in dense foliage of the California Redwood forests. It took a lot of tweaking to... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Connectivity, Open Source Solutions | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| Thank you @carlybatist |
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Acoustics | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| Let me introduce my Citibats Cambodia project (inaturalist.org/projects/citibats-cambodia) hosted on iNaturalist. At the moment we have... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| Thanks Aude, very useful. Will reach out to them! |
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Early Career, Acoustics, eDNA & Genomics, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| A very nice read, especially for me someone new to the field as myself. Nice to see all of the various approaches and to know I wasn't re-inventing the wheel but adding something... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| Cool! My Sound Localization project has hit hackaday. The use case of fireworks localization was pure sensationalism. |
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Acoustics | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| If you are considering an external microphone and a towed system, then you would also be in a position to consider a raspberry pi with an external microphone with sbts-aru.... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Marine Conservation, Sustainable Fishing Challenges | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| When I designed the recorder. I chose it to use jackd2 instead of pulse audio or direct alsa access because unless I was mistaken it could support multiple consumers of the sound... |
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Acoustics | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| I am not an acoustics person but train and deploy canines in the field. Are you looking for something that records sniff rate and patterns? For GPS I just use a Garmin... |
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Acoustics, Animal Movement, Geospatial | 1 year 5 months ago |
