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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Cornell University
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- @Heloise
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Bio-acoustician, marine biologist, marine mammal specialist, drone enthusiast
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AI/ML consultant for climate/environment solutions industry
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Brazilian biologist, PhD in Ecology and 10 yrs of experience in the Amazon with bat bioacoustics
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Researcher interested in waterbird ecology and conservation
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PhD Student on bio- and ecoacoustics at the University of Freiburg (GER)
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University of Salford
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- @ryanhuang
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Conservation scientist based in Pretoria, South Africa
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An Environmental sciences and Management graduate from SUA, passionate and eager to drive change to the Environment, making World a better place for present and future generations.
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- @charlene.wood
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Senior wildlife biologist and entomologist with a background in community data analysis and bioacoustics
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- @hyodopenguin
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I am currently a rising junior at UC Berkeley studying data science. I hope to apply data with biodiversity, especially by utilizing camera traps for species classification. People in conservation tech are truly living my dream careers, and I can't wait to get even more inspired!
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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
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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
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event
Vanesa Reyes
November 2025
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Stephanie O'Donnell
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| We actually recently introduced Recording Schedules - where you can control the PUC's duty cycle during (Day, Night, Dawn, Dusk). |
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Acoustics | 11 months 2 weeks ago | |
| Hey Xavier! Thank you for your interest and question!! The overarching goal of the FinDrop v1 for the WildLabs award is to characterize an instrument and make it as, if... |
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Acoustics, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Sustainable Fishing Challenges | 11 months 3 weeks ago | |
| The main takeaway from this particular localization was that a gunshot was able to be detected considerably further than I previously thought. 2.7km is really far I think for a... |
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Acoustics | 1 year ago | |
| Hi Nick,Yes, It's very common to have big data in the SD cards when recording bats!I agree with Carly's comments. Indeed, I suggest you make a schedule so you do not record... |
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Acoustics | 1 year ago | |
| So excited for this! These topics are all super relevant and comprehensive. Maybe one thing that might be interesting to hear about is projects where PAM is combined with... |
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Acoustics | 1 year ago | |
| Hi Stefan,Sorry, I'm not sure I fully understand your question.If you're referring to my first comment, the package I initially tried didn't work with my dataset. The likely... |
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Acoustics | 1 year ago | |
| Hi there Loveness, I agree there is a ton to learn with acoustic monitoring! Here's my favorite website for learning the (many) basics! Discovery of Sound in the SeaHave... |
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Acoustics | 1 year ago | |
| Karibu sana |
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Acoustics, East Africa Community, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 1 year ago | |
| Hi César, Is there a geographic area you're limited to? That would help to narrow down options. I would recommend reaching out perhaps to the Kitzes Lab, Sound Forest... |
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Acoustics, Citizen Science, Community Base, Early Career, Marine Conservation | 1 year ago | |
| Retweet on OpenSoundscape - great package and documentation that allows you to build your own CNNs! Note that this is in Python though. There are tons of bioacoustics... |
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Acoustics, Data management and processing tools | 1 year ago | |
| Hi @BrettMargoSupplies this product seems like a fantastic addition to The Inventory, WILDLABS' wiki-style discovery platform for conservation technology. Adding a product is... |
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Acoustics | 1 year ago | |
| Hi everyone, I am conducting a research project as part of my MSc in Environment and Development at the London School of Economics. I... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Ethics of Conservation Tech | 1 year ago |
