Eavesdropping on wetland birds
Wetlands support approximately 40 per cent of the world’s biodiversity and play a critical role in human health and the health of our planet, including in climate change mitigation. But we must understand them if we’re going to protect them.
As wetlands worldwide decline at an alarming rate, the species that inhabit them are also under threat. Wetland birds, including rails, crakes, snipes and bitterns, are sensitive indicators of wetland health but due to their notoriously secretive behaviour we know remarkably little about their distribution, population status and ecology.
Using technology to inform conservation management
A new research project led by Charles Sturt University’s Professor David Watson and Dr Elizabeth Znidersic is aiming to identify the distribution of wetland birds using a new and innovative detection method.
The foundation of this research is collaboration between ecology and computer science. Our specialised computer scientist, Dr Michael Towsey will automate the analysis of our acoustic recordings. Technology is increasingly informing conservation management via automated data collection, algorithms to streamline classification and decision-supporting tools that can balance the needs of different stakeholders.
In this project acoustic monitoring technology will be used to extend time and location data collection in order to detect wetland bird species and monitor their diversity. The timing and frequency of the noises the birds make varies seasonally and can also be used to detect breeding events.
A selection of wetlands will be monitored in south-eastern mainland Australia and Tasmania including managed and unmanaged wetlands of varying scale.
Research objectives
- To better understand the distribution of little-known wetland bird species in eastern Australia.
- To trial large-scale deployment of acoustic sensors with manual data collection.
- To improve artificial intelligence training datasets.
- To determine the presence or absence of bird species.
- To engage the community through live streaming acoustic data in collaboration with other stakeholders.
Improving management of wetlands
Monitoring is the foundation of conservation management. Automated acoustic recordings and the use of remote cameras to monitor our wetland birds will vastly improve our understanding of breeding in response to climatic and seasonal factors.
This research facilitates new effective monitoring of wetland bird communities that will result in improved on-ground management of both private and public wetlands across Australia. It will provide a template to determine future population trends in our wetland birds.
Benefiting wetland bird species and wetland communities, this project will usher in a new era of environmental monitoring that is non-invasive, efficient and cost-effective, and that engages the wider community.
Sharing discoveries and promoting unusual bird species
An important aspect of this research is sharing knowledge about the species being studied not only with wildlife researchers and academic publications, but also with the wider community. These species of birds are unfamiliar to most people and we hope this research will raise their profile and spark community interest in both the birds and the habitats they depend on.
As well as sound recorders and motion-triggered cameras, incidental observations by citizen scientists are an important source of occurrence data, highlighting the range of species thriving in wetlands, even right next to some of Australia's big cities.
New ways to work with big data
In addition to sneaky birds and threatened wetlands, this research will inform new ways of dealing with big data. Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to crunch through vast datasets looking for a single ‘squeak’ or ‘squark’ has applications far beyond this project – from remote medical diagnostics to interpretation of satellite imagery.
Through sharing the outcomes of this research and continued collaboration with computer scientists and software engineers, this research’s impact will ripple out well beyond the billabong.
We need your help to take the research to the next level
The research has already begun, and we need your help to reach our fundraising target! We’ve already had $400,000 donated to this research project that is benefiting wetland bird species and wetland communities. Now we’re looking for a further $145,000 to make it possible for the research to continue and usher in a new era of environmental monitoring that is non-invasive, efficient and cost-effective, and that engages the wider community.