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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

Description	Activity	Groups	Updated
Virtual Meetup Discussion: Acoustic Monitoring	Hi Carly, The recording + our notes is here: WILDLABS Virtual Meetup - Acoustic Monitoring We also keep an archive of all past meetups here: ...	Acoustics	5 years 3 months ago
Acoustic monitiring virtual meetup recording	Hi there I was wondering when this virtual meetup recording will be available? Thanks :) Axel	Acoustics	5 years 4 months ago
Prior work on Bird Flock identification	Hi Harold! Great to know you are in the domain. To be honest my analysis so far indicates that when conducting a DSP approach on the spectrum, smoothing via...	Acoustics	5 years 4 months ago
Success recording bees using AudioMoth	How can we learn more about your BEESWAX7 buzz identification and counting program, and discuss working together?	Acoustics	5 years 5 months ago
Machine-readable representation of a sensor duty cycle / recording schedule	Hi David, I use cron-like patterns. One form looks something like: mon,wed-sun 0-23:0-59/10 90 which means every day but Tuesdays, every 10 minutes from...	Acoustics	5 years 11 months ago
Advice on Audiomoth extended power and case solution	Hi Shawn, I've only heard good things about LiFePO4. The only issue I can think of is exactly the one you bring up: the EMF is low enough that a 2S battery is needed...	Acoustics	5 years 11 months ago
Audio analysis of flocks or swarms	So far we have been able to disambiguate between the flocks of two different species of small birds? Not easy. Our problem seems to be based around the fact that...	Acoustics	5 years 11 months ago
Raspberry Pi Hardware Mono Mic Problem	Hi Sam, have you tried the Clippy EM172 ? I was looking at this microphone on Raspberry Pi + PiSound, but it has an electret capsule and should then be powered... Thank you...	Acoustics	5 years 11 months ago
Sound Event Recognition - through collaboration	Hi Kev, thank you for contacting us. We are a non-profit, too. I very much welcome collabortion on this system. Shall we continue our discussion through email? Mine is jankees....	Acoustics	6 years 1 month ago
Bird Bioacoustics - Good Practice Guidance	Hi all, In order to help the development of bioacoustics methods in the UK, I've recently produced some draft guidance, focussed on...	Acoustics	6 years 4 months ago
AudioMoth 2.0 Development	Hi. I'm moving a topic to this thread from the camera trap thread since it's more relevant here. Discussion with Alasdair...	Acoustics	6 years 5 months ago
AudioMoth user guide	Hi Tessa. Thanks and also thanks for being so generous with your work :) Regarding the format, how do you all think if we have a single document and a wiki? I could...	Acoustics	6 years 5 months ago

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Larson Ankeny

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Louisa Richmond-Coggan

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Wildlife Acoustics

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Wildlife Drones

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