A first test of unattended, acoustic recorders for monitoring Capercaillie<i>Tetrao urogallus</i>lekking activity

Abrahams, Carlos; Denny, Matthew

doi:10.1080/00063657.2018.1446904

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…This may not be the case ecologically, but it is the case practically, in terms of both the lek counts and using acoustic recorders. The recorders were sufficiently spaced to avoid any double counting in the acoustic data, with separation distances of 260 m between sites 8535 and 8607, and 85 m between sites 8552 and 9306 (Venier et al 2012;Sedláček et al 2015;Abrahams and Denny 2018). Site names and details are not given here due to landowner confidentiality.…”

Section: Lek Countmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This dataset was analysed using a semi-automated system to identify Capercaillie vocalizations in the recordings, with a three-stage process to produce a Capercaillie call 'recognizer' and final output. An additional dataset was used for recognizer training, consisting of recordings collected in the same area of Scotland in 2016 (Abrahams and Denny 2018). This 2016 dataset consisted of 1586 .wav files (28.2 GB data) collected over 14 days at three lek sites.…”

Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, technological innovations in the last 10-20 years have greatly increased the potential of this approach for research in a wide range of habitats and for a variety of taxa (Sueur et al 2008;Marques et al 2013). One particularly valuable area for development is the survey of bird assemblages or populations, including rare, cryptic and disturbanceprone species such as the Corncrake (Crex crex L.), Bittern (Botaurus stellaris L.), Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus L.) and Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.) (Abrahams and Denny 2018). Automated static recording units (often called 'passive' or 'autonomous' recorders) are especially well suited to point count-type surveys for highly territorial and lekking species, where systematic spatial and temporal sampling can help determine occupancy, species composition or population size (Brandes 2008;Gasc et al 2017;Shonfield and Bayne 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparison between lek counts and bioacoustic recording for monitoring Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.)

Abrahams

2019

J Ornithol

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Bioacoustics is the study of animal sounds. The importance of bioacoustics for biological research and the survey and monitoring of bird populations is becoming increasingly recognized. This is particularly the case for the capture of long-term data on rare species that are prone to disturbance or are otherwise difficult to survey. The global population of the Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.; hereafter 'Capercaillie') is declining, and its status in the UK is highly precarious. Current methods for monitoring this species are subject to a number of constraints that affect the quality of collected data. Bioacoustics could provide a useful complement to these existing methods, in particular for the assessment of activity at leks. This study used acoustic recorders to survey Capercaillie vocal activity for a month at ten lek sites, and quantified the numbers of calls produced. Traditional lek count surveys were undertaken at all sites during this time. The recorded vocal activity data (1) correlated with the number of birds recorded by human surveyors, (2) indicated that traditional surveys may be causing some disturbance at the lek sites, and (3) showed that call numbers are related to temporal and environmental variables. The bioacoustic approach can provide high-quality, long-term data, that can be effectively combined with the traditional lek survey technique. It should be utilized more frequently as a survey and monitoring tool to provide structured, coherent results that can be used to aid conservation efforts.

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Section: Lek Countmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparison between lek counts and bioacoustic recording for monitoring Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.)

Abrahams

2019

J Ornithol

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“…This method uses automated recording units, which can be deployed in the field for days or weeks at a time to capture animal sounds. The advantages of this approach include the production of a standardised, longduration, permanent dataset and record of species identification, which can be repeatedly analysed and subject to validation by independent reviewers (Abrahams & Denny, 2018;Celis-Murillo et al, 2009;Rempel et al, 2005). Automated recorders can be synchronized to occur simultaneously across large spatial extents, reducing temporal variability in studies (Brandes, 2008;Furnas & Callas, 2015;MacKenzie & Nichols, 2004), and offering large data volumes at low cost and with little resourcing requirement (Acevedo & Villanueva-Rivera, 2006;Hill et al, 2018;Holmes et al, 2014;Zwart et al, 2014).…”

Section: Bioacoustics For Biodiversity Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Identification of species vocalizations is commonly done either by complete manual analysis or, increasingly, by the use of automated recognizers, which require the a priori compilation and analysis of a large library of known species vocalizations (Knight et al, 2017;Shonfield & Bayne, 2017). Our analysis workflow included automated clustering of the acoustic data set, followed by manual validation of candidate vocalizations of the target species (Abrahams & Denny, 2018). This process has two benefits.…”

Section: Bioacoustic Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining bioacoustics and occupancy modelling for improved monitoring of rare breeding bird populations

Abrahams

Geary

2020

Ecological Indicators

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Bioacoustic recording is used to generate occupancy and detectability estimates • Rare heathland breeding birds varied in their occupancy between 0.68 and 0.13 • Detectability varied from 0.74 to 0.20, and was affected by habitat • Bioacoustics can be used to provide improved data over traditional survey methods ABSTRACT Effective monitoring of rare and declining species is critical to enable their conservation, but can often be difficult due to detectability or survey constraints. However, developments in acoustic recorders are enabling an important new approach for improved monitoring that is especially applicable for long-term studies, and for use in difficult environments or with cryptic species. Bioacoustic data may be effectively analysed within an occupancy modelling framework, as presence/absence can be determined, and repeated survey events can be accommodated. Hence, both occupancy and detectability estimates can be produced from large, coherent datasets. However, the most effective methods for the practical detection and identification of call data are still far from established. We assessed a novel combination of automated clustering and manual verification to detect and identify heathland bird vocalizations, covering a period of six days at 44 sampling locations Occupancy (Ψ) and detectability (p) were modelled for each species, and the best fit models provided values of: nightjar Ψ=0.684, p=0.740, Dartford warbler Ψ=0.449 p=0.196 and woodlark Ψ=0.13 p=0.996. Including environmental covariates within the occupancy models indicated that tree, wetland and heather cover were important variables, particularly influencing detectability. The protocol used here allowed robust and consistent survey data to be gathered, with limited fieldwork resourcing, allowing population estimates to be generated for the target bird species. The combination of

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A roadmap for survey designs in terrestrial acoustic monitoring

Sugai

Desjonquères

Silva

et al. 2019

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is increasingly popular in ecological research and conservation programs, with high-volume and long-term data collection provided by automatized acoustic sensors offering unprecedented opportunities for faunal and ecosystem surveys. Practitioners and newcomers interested in PAM can easily find technical specifications for acoustic sensors and microphones, but guidelines on how to plan survey designs are largely scattered over the literature. Here, we (i) review spatial and temporal sampling designs used in passive acoustic monitoring, (ii) provide a synthesis of the crucial aspects of PAM survey design and (iii) propose a workflow to optimize recording autonomy and recording schedules. From 1992 to 2018, most of the 460 studies applying PAM in terrestrial environments have used a single recorder per site, covered broad spatial scales and rotated recorders between sites to optimize sampling effort. Continuous recording of specific diel periods was the main recording procedure used. When recording schedules were applied, a larger number of recordings per hour was generally associated with a smaller recording length. For PAM survey design, we proposed to (i) estimate memory/battery autonomy and associated costs, (ii) assess signal detectability to optimize recording schedules in order to recover maximum biological information and (iii) evaluate cost-benefit scenarios between sampling effort and budget to address potential biases from a given PAM survey design. Establishing standards for PAM data collection will improve the quality of inferences over the broad scope of PAM research and promote essential standardization for cross-scale research to understand long-term biodiversity trends in a changing world.

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A first test of unattended, acoustic recorders for monitoring CapercaillieTetrao urogalluslekking activity

Abstract: A first test of unattended, acoustic recorders for monitoring capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.) lekking activity.

Cited by 9 publications

References 33 publications

Comparison between lek counts and bioacoustic recording for monitoring Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.)

Comparison between lek counts and bioacoustic recording for monitoring Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.)

Combining bioacoustics and occupancy modelling for improved monitoring of rare breeding bird populations

A roadmap for survey designs in terrestrial acoustic monitoring

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