The ability to monitor global changes in biodiversity at large spatiotemporal scales is now a global imperative and requires cost-effective techniques that can scale massively both spatially and temporally.

Remote sensing is therefore attractive. Current approaches are predominantly visual: images collected via satellites or drones can provide an indication of canopy structure, but tell us little about the under-canopy biodiversity. 

Based on the premise that the structure of the soundscape of a habitat reflects the structure of the populations that inhabit it, community-level acoustic measures are emerging as a promising route for rapid biodiversity assessment.

The aim of the current project is to validate existing acoustic indices against traditional in situ biodiversity measures, using data collected in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest and Amazon this summer.

In this Work in Progress Seminar, Alice Eldridge will outline the evolutionary premise of the approach, introduce the emerging field of soundscape ecology and report on some of the issues emerging from her field work and early analysis.

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By: Luke Scott
Last updated: Monday, 20 October 2014