Museum für Naturkunde Berlin: Feasibility study: Integration of (bio)acoustic methods for quantifying biodiversity into forest monitoring

Forest monitoring

Forest monitoring is an important approach to maintaining and improving the condition of forests. To this end, various methods are used to assess the ecological, economic and social functions of the forest and to record changes in ecosystems. For effective monitoring, it is important to adequately record all relevant aspects of biodiversity in the forest. A promising method for recording vocalising animal species is the use of (bio)acoustic methods.

The project

The project is a collaboration between the Thünen Institute, the University of Freiburg and the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. The overarching aim of this study is to assess the extent to which (bio-)acoustic methods can be integrated into the existing forest monitoring system. The study will focus on the identification and quantification of various animal groups, particularly birds and mammals.

Acoustic monitoring

Animals play an important role in forest ecosystems, as they perform functions such as pollination and seed dispersal, but are also significant in their role as consumers. Whilst monitoring tree and soil health provides information on the condition of the forest, monitoring mostly short-lived organisms such as grasshoppers, some cicadas, frogs, birds and mammals can contribute to the development of early warning systems that are important for biological processes and forest dynamics. An acoustic monitoring system can detect changes in species composition and abundance, as well as in phenology. The project aims to automatically provide data that is as objective as possible on the diversity of vocalising animal species and other forest sounds. This information is intended to be established as an essential component of forest monitoring and to enable a timely, data-based assessment of the status of forest-dwelling animal populations.

To achieve this, the feasibility study is divided into two phases. In the first phase, existing (bio)acoustic methods, particularly those that can be used to identify and quantify animal calls in forest areas, will be reviewed and evaluated. In the second phase, a more comprehensive assessment will be carried out to investigate the full integration of (bio)acoustic methods into forest monitoring. This will involve evaluating the associated technical, logistical and financial challenges.

The technology allows extensive data on potentially all vocalising animal species to be collected in a short time. However, the subsequent analysis of the audio recordings remains very time-consuming. Solutions are therefore being developed to facilitate the analysis of background noise based on acoustic pattern recognition. The researchers in this project are also addressing these technical challenges. As a foundation, the Animal Sound Archive at the MfN offers, among other things, a significant collection of bioacoustic studies and a reference system for the development of acoustic pattern recognition algorithms.

The acoustic monitoring system to be developed as part of the project opens up entirely new possibilities for the research and management of our forests and can make a decisive contribution in future to the conservation of biodiversity and the monitoring of the condition of this important habitat.