AI Listens In to Help Protect Wildlife

Summary

The air in forests is filled with animal sounds, containing rich information about biodiversity. However, analyzing the massive recordings collected by autonomous devices is a huge challenge. Dan Stowell, a researcher at Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in the Netherlands, leads BioacAI, a four-year EU-funded project with European and UK partners, to develop AI tools that automatically identify species from sound recordings, aiming to monitor biodiversity more efficiently at large scales. The project also addresses a skills gap by training doctoral students in a 'full stack' of bioacoustic AI skills, spanning acoustics, AI, zoology, and ecology.