Madeleine Robertson

• Passive acoustic monitoring and AI for wildlife conservation
• BSc Hons Zoology

This project aimed to build an AI model that would be able to be used as a passive acoustic monitoring tool for identifying the presence of muntjac deer. Over a period of eight weeks between June and August at Balls Wood and Astonbury Wood in Hertfordshire, I recorded two hours before and after midnight using twenty AudioMoths. I then manually reviewed all of the audio fi les and cut out any muntjac
calls, which I used along with other recorded noise (rain, aeroplanes, tawny owls etc.) and audio files of sounds that are similar to muntjac calls and commonly found in British woodlands (crows, pheasants etc.) from an internet sound bank to train an AI model that is able to accurately identify muntjac calls.

Funded by: Newcastle University Research Scholarship

Project Supervisor: Dr Roy Sanderson