recording by recording: citynet and the british bat survey ......local-scale species monitoring...

Recording by recording: CityNet

and the British Bat Survey (and

Nature-Smart Cities)

Dr Alison Fairbrass

alison.fairbrass@gmail.com @AlisonFairbrass

National Forum for Biological Recording Conference, 10th May 2019

Acoustic indicator of

biodiversity for urban

environments

Local-scale species

monitoring

National -scale species

monitoring

Acoustic indicator of

biodiversity for urban

environments

Local-scale species

monitoring

National -scale species

monitoring

CityNet

Produces patterns

of biotic and

anthropogenic

acoustic activity

over long temporal

scales

Fairbrass et al. (2019) Methods Ecol. Evol.

Anthropogenic

Biotic

Acoustic Indices –Ecoacoustic Algorithms to Measure Biodiversity Sound?

BI = signal power within 2-8Khz frequency bin

BIOACOUSTIC INDEX Boelman et al. (2007) Ecol. Appl.

2kHz

ACOUSTIC COMPLEXITY INDEXPieretti et al. (2011) Ecol. Indic.

Simple algorithms that measure

the biotic sound in large

volumes of audio data.

CitySounds2017

Library of urban sounds

Fairbrass et al. (2017) Ecol. Indic.

Biotic sound ……………100%

Anthropogenic sound…..5%

Results

CNN

Deep Learning

CityNet

Machine learning algorithms to measure biotic and anthropogenic sound in large

volumes of noisy audio data from the urban environment.

Fairbrass et al. (2019) Methods Ecol. Evol.

Acoustic indicator of

biodiversity for urban

environments

Local-scale species

monitoring

National -scale species

monitoring

www.naturesmartcities.com

Soprano Pipistrelle Leisler

Common pipistrelle

(Pipistrellus

pipistrellus)

Daubenton’s bat

(Myotis

daubentonii)

Mac Aodha et al. (2018) PLoS Computational Biology

Soprano pipistrelle…10%

Leisleri..……………60%

Noctula….………....30%

Results

CNN

Deep Learning

Mac Aodha et al. (in prep.)

# bat calls per night

July Aug Sept

Water TreesGrassPark

# bat calls per night

July Aug Sept

1 2 5 10 12

# log mean bat calls / night / sensor

13 6 7 8 9 11 14

Water TreesGrassPark

From July 309,057 bat calls from 12

sensors (n = 61 days), mean calls per

night = 5067

Acoustic indicator of

biodiversity for urban

environments

Local-scale species

monitoring

National-scale species

monitoring

What is the British Bat Survey (BBatS)

Incorporating new technology for monitoring bats into the

National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP) to help meet

some NBMP strategic targets including:

● Increased participation and engagement with the NBMP

● Greater geographic coverage and monitoring of currently

under-surveyed habitats

+

Bat call detection and

classification algorithmsAudioMoth

Soprano pipistrelle…..……10%

Leisleri..…………………….60%

Noctula.…………………….30%

Results

CNN

Deep Learning

Fairbrass et al. (2019) A Plan for the British Bat Survey. BCT

BBatS Protocol

Fairbrass et al. (2019) A Plan for the British Bat Survey. BCT

BBatS Protocol

Recording bats using the AudioMoth

Hill et al. (2018) Methods Ecol. Evol.

Testing the AudioMoth

Collen (2012) UCL PhD Thesis; Browning et al. (in prep.)

BBatS Protocol

Fairbrass et al. (2019) A Plan for the British Bat Survey. BCT

BCT Amazon Web

Service

Volunteers

computer

N.leisleri..………………..…90%

N.noctula.………………..….9%

P.pygmaeus …………….…1%

Results

Deep learning

network

Machine learning algorithms to detect and identify

bat calls

Mac Aodha et al. (2018) PLoS Computational Biology

BBatS Protocol

Fairbrass et al. (2019) A Plan for the British Bat Survey. BCT

Results reportingResults

Email to volunteer with

site level resultsPublic webpage with

results at 1 km resolution

Estimate national bat

population trends

N.leisleri..………………..…90%

N.noctula.………………..….9%

P.pygmaeus …………….…1%

Acoustic indicator of

biodiversity for urban

environments

Local-scale species

monitoring

National-scale species

monitoring

For more information:

Dr Alison Fairbrass

alison.fairbrass@gmail.com @AlisonFairbrass

National Forum for Biological Recording Conference, 10th May 2019