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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- @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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University of Adelaide
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- @pbull
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DrivenData
Engineer and AI for Good leader working on bringing machine learning tools to social impact organizations.
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- @ronanwallace
- | He/Him
Research scientist developing conservation technology in environmental monitoring and cultural preservation.
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TerrOïko
I am an ecological data engineer at Terroïko, where I work on OCAPI, a platform for semi-automatic camtrap data annotation, biodiversity data interoperability and biodiversity indicators.
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- @shana
- | she/her
I am a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington. I am a researcher with the eDNA Collaborative and Co-Director of the Pacific Marine Energy Center.
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- @douggillespie
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University of St Andrews
PAMGuard software developer
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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
Careers
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
October 2025
event
Vanesa Reyes
November 2025
February 2023
event
Wildlife Acoustics
January 2023
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I didn't see this post until the digest came out, but if you still need some comments... I suggest asking this question on one of the sound recordists forums. The... |
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Acoustics | 4 years 3 months ago | |
| Hi all, The UK Acoustics Network's Bioacoustics special interest group is hosting a monthly webinar series starting this month (... |
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Acoustics | 4 years 4 months ago | |
| I'm assuming that by "sort by frequencies" you mean the frequency of the call itself, not the frequency of the audio recording (for example, a call at 1KHz vs a... |
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Acoustics | 4 years 4 months ago | |
| Hi everyone, we’ve decided to extend the survey for 3 more weeks, until the 18th of April! That will be the final date (the online survey tool we use is not free,... |
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Acoustics | 4 years 4 months ago | |
| Ah, perfect. I was wondering why I never hear those calls! That's really nice work, thanks so much for sharing! |
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Acoustics | 4 years 6 months ago | |
| The BTO Acoustic Pipeline, to support the sound identification of bats, and other species groups that are recorded as ‘by-catch... |
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Acoustics | 4 years 6 months ago | |
| Awesome tools are out there for bioacoustic monitoring - so jazzed about the growing acoustic community! Here's another... |
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Acoustics | 4 years 6 months ago | |
| Hi all thanks for the answers! Carly - thanks, will have to try yours. I did the course at the Organisation of Tropical Studies with Marcelo, which was awesome, but this is not... |
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Acoustics | 4 years 7 months ago | |
| Tom Dally at Leeds University UK is doing work in this area. I dont think he has anything published yet but his preliminary results are interesting (saw them at a workshop).... |
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Acoustics | 4 years 7 months ago | |
| Hi @pmnguyen1224 , thanks for reaching out and checking out the system! We would love to help ensure that you're able to get pattern matching to work for... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation | 4 years 7 months ago | |
| I’ll stick some thoughts here that other folk can maybe comment on/add to. So there are a few (obvious) differences between terrestrial and marine... |
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Acoustics | 4 years 8 months ago | |
| Hi Steph! It could be either - if there was anyone out there for whom this work would be a good fit for their current role, then that would be easy, but if they needed... |
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Acoustics | 4 years 9 months ago |
