Evaluating the Impacts of Simulated Beaver Structures using Passive Acoustic Monitoring at Rocky Mountain National Park
Balantic CM and Dillon KJ. 2024. Evaluating the Impacts of Simulated Beaver Structures using Passive Acoustic Monitoring at Rocky Mountain National Park. NPS/NRSS/Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division. Fort Collins, Colorado.
From 2018 to 2022, Rocky Mountain National Park conducted seasonal passive acoustic monitoring at three streams. The purpose of acoustic monitoring was to assess the potential biodiversity impact of simulated beaver structures (SBSs). Audio recordings were processed with the deep learning model BirdNET (V2.1) (Kahl et al. 2021) to evaluate differences in avian biodiversity at control and treatment sites. Based on automated detection data, SBS impacts were evaluated using two techniques: (1) assessment of focal species detections, and (2) comparison of species richness. Focal species were selected to act as indicators of riparian habitat. Species richness was considered as a metric of biodiversity. We found no clear trends in focal species detections between control and treatment sites. However, species richness appeared elevated at all three treatment sites compared with control sites. BirdNET appears to be a useful tool for automated acoustic detection of focal species and estimation of species richness. Given that the temporal impacts of beaver activity and SBSs may extend beyond the monitoring period covered in this work, the techniques described could be repeated for future acoustic measurements at these sites. This report was developed to satisfy NPS Technical Assistance Request #19942, "Quantifying changes in bioacoustic activity associated with Simulated Beaver Structure (SBS) restoration pilot project".
- Type
- Technical Assistance Report
- Authors
- Balantic, Cathleen; Dillon, Kayley
- Date of Issue
- 2024-01
- Publisher
- NPS/NRSS/Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division
- Units
- ROMO
- Keywords
- Acoustic Monitoring, Acoustics, Audio Recorder, Avian, Beaver, Bioacoustics, Biodiversity, Bird, Natural Sounds, Simulated Beaver Structures
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Riparian Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Birds , Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Landscape Dynamics | Land Cover and Use , Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Soundscape | Soundscape