Autonomous sound recording outperforms human observation for sampling birds a systematic map and user guide

Autonomous sound recording techniques have gained considerable traction in the last decade, but the question remains whether they can replace human observation surveys to sample sonant animals. For birds in particular, survey methods have been tested extensively using point counts and sound recordin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecological applications Vol. 29; no. 6; pp. 1247 - 1265
Main Authors: Darras, Kevin, Batáry, Péter, Furnas, Brett J., Grass, Ingo, Mulyani, Yeni A., Tscharntke, Teja
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States John Wiley and Sons, Inc 01.09.2019
Ecological Society of America
Subjects:
acoustic recording
Acoustics
Animals
autonomous recording units
bioacoustics
Birds
cost effectiveness
data collection
Humans
Occupancy
passive acoustic monitoring
point count
Polls & surveys
Recorders
Sampling
Sound
Sound recorders
Sound recording
Sound Spectrography
Spatial discrimination
Spatial resolution
Species richness
surveys
vocalization
Vocalization, Animal
point count
sound recorders
autonomous recording units
bioacoustics
acoustic recording
passive acoustic monitoring
ISSN:1051-0761, 1939-5582
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Autonomous sound recording techniques have gained considerable traction in the last decade, but the question remains whether they can replace human observation surveys to sample sonant animals. For birds in particular, survey methods have been tested extensively using point counts and sound recording surveys. Here, we review the latest evidence for this taxon within the frame of a systematic map. We compare sampling effectiveness of these two survey methods, the output variables they produce, and their practicality. When assessed against the standard of point counts, autonomous sound recording proves to be a powerful tool that samples at least as many species. This technology can monitor birds in an exhaustive, standardized, and verifiable way. Moreover, sound recorders give access to entire soundscapes from which new data types can be derived (vocal activity, acoustic indices). Variables such as abundance, density, occupancy, or species richness can be obtained to yield data sets that are comparable to and compatible with point counts. Finally, autonomous sound recorders allow investigations at high temporal and spatial resolution and coverage, which are more cost effective and cannot be achieved by human observations alone, even though small-scale studies might be more cost effective when carried out with point counts. Sound recorders can be deployed in many places, they are more scalable and reliable, making them the better choice for bird surveys in an increasingly data-driven time. We provide an overview of currently available recorders and discuss their specifications to guide future study designs.
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ISSN:1051-0761
1939-5582
DOI:10.1002/eap.1954