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
No showcases have been added to this group yet.
- 0 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 2 Groups
Recently accepted into the Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries graduate program at Texas A&M.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
- @fsanger
- | she / her/ ella
- 0 Resources
- 5 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- @foxy50213
- | Mr.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 2 Groups
Founder & CEO of we.are.tohorā, creating a community that cares about whales, the environment and each other.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @bumbleben
- | He/Him
Junior dev in a bioacoustics startup, interested in all forms of remote sensing and biologging
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 4 Groups
IBM
Software Engineer for last 20 years and running a conservation organization for last 3 years, looking for more opportunities to implement tech skills for conservation
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @Thomas_Luypaert
- | He/him
Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)
Ecological monitoring enthusiast with a focus on ecological and conservation research
- 1 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 7 Groups
Article
AI for Conservation Office Hours: 2025 Review
Jake Burton and 1 more
Read about the advice provided by AI specialists in AI Conservation Office Hours 2025 earlier this year and reflect on how this helped projects so far.
6 August 2025
Careers
If you're a Post-Doctoral Fellow, a PhD student, or a member of the research staff interested in applying your computational skills to support active research publications, please read on to learn about the Cross-...
5 August 2025
Careers
A group of Montreal labs is searching for a postdoctoral researcher for a project applying machine learning to the spatial scaling of biodiversity.
28 July 2025
Careers
The Marine Innovation Lab for Leading-edge Oceanography develops hardware and software to expand the ocean observing network and for the sustainable management of natural resources. For Fall 2026, we are actively...
24 July 2025
Link
Still open for fundings
Szilvia Szilagyi
Still unfunded, we are looking for a lab office, materials, used instruments and to create our educational basement.
17 July 2025
Article
Contribute to India's largest open-access, annotated acoustic dataset
Sarika Khanwilkar
Join us in curating an annotated acoustic dataset for India! We are accepting strong and weak labels, read the FAQ document (linked below) for more info and sign the Data Agreement form to join
17 July 2025
Link
Acoustic monitoring for tropical ecology and conservation
Elsa Carla De Grandi
Conservation technologies have a critical role in supporting biodiversity surveys at scale. Acoustic sensors have been increasingly adopted in ecological research, enabling us to expand our capacities in assessing...
15 June 2025
Article
HawkEars: a high-performance bird sound classifier for Canada
Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
HawkEars is a deep learning model designed specifically to recognize the calls of 328 Canadian bird species and 13 amphibians.
13 May 2025
Link
ecoTECH YouTube webinar playlist by Biological Recording Company
Amber Balfour-Cunningham
The Biological Recording Company's ecoTECH YouTube playlist has a focus on webinars about Bioacoustic monitoring.
29 April 2025
Link
This paper includes, in its supplementary materials, a helpful table comparing several acoustic recorders used in terrestrial environments, along with associated audio and metadata information.
15 April 2025
Article
Nature Tech for Biodiversity Sector Map launched!
Carly Batist and 1 more
Conservation International is proud to announce the launch of the Nature Tech for Biodiversity Sector Map, developed in partnership with the Nature Tech Collective!
1 April 2025
Careers
PhD position on bat acoustics and collective behavior
Blair Costelloe
PhD position available at the University of Konstanz in the Active Sensing Collective Group!
28 March 2025
August 2025
event
Louisa Richmond-Coggan
September 2025
October 2025
event
Vanesa Reyes
November 2025
September 2022
event
Stephanie O'Donnell
event
Stephanie O'Donnell
August 2022
event
Stephanie O'Donnell
event
Justin Kitzes
July 2022
64 Products
Recently updated products
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thank you! |
|
Acoustics | 1 year 9 months ago | |
| A few more! |
|
Acoustics | 1 year 9 months ago | |
| Hi, thanks so much for getting back. You can reach me at j.insupp@fh-cuas.at |
|
Acoustics | 1 year 10 months ago | |
| Hi everyone, I wanted to provide an update on behalf of Wildlife Acoustics regarding some of these comments in this thread. As some of you may know, we have just announced... |
+19
|
Acoustics, Sensors | 1 year 10 months ago | |
| I second that! |
|
Acoustics | 1 year 10 months ago | |
| Hi Wildlabbers!We were asked to share this opportunity to present at the upcoming Audiomoth conference:Presenters are urgently needed -... |
|
Acoustics | 1 year 11 months ago | |
| I've tested a Petterson ultrasonic microphone with a sample rate of 384khz and it works out of the box with this software as well. Would be cool to sound localize some bats. |
+22
|
Acoustics | 1 year 11 months ago | |
| Steve Simpson (on behalf of collaborator @MilesParsons) joined our June Variety Hour to give a report from the Wolrd Oceans Passive... |
|
Acoustics, Marine Conservation | 2 years 1 month ago | |
| Hi Tom, Seeed Studio also offers manufacturing services. Check out more info on the website here :) |
|
Acoustics | 2 years 1 month ago | |
| Carly, that would be great! Thanks! I work with soundscapes and love the work of Rainforest Connection! I'll send you an email (@CUNY) to coordinate! |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Geospatial | 2 years 2 months ago | |
| Hi Donya! You might check out the Conservation Tech Directory to see what projects/organizations/tools best align with your interests and skills. |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Drones | 2 years 2 months ago | |
| I am exploring project ideas to monitor marine reef systems using passive acoustic monitoring and am curious what software people prefer... |
|
Acoustics | 2 years 3 months ago |
