Species List
Data for the curated list of species can be found here
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wdWZZcj8F_JBxuQta7-Q_-tJYk5Ux3pEFy7qpqQePB0/

Includes citation and data from the following sources:
https://www.inaturalist.org/
https://nbnatlas.org/
https://www.bradfordbirding.org/
https://xeno-canto.org/
https://www.ywt.org.uk/
https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/
https://naturebftb.co.uk/

Headlines

Defaunation: 25% of the world’s birds disappeared in 30 years

Current extinction rates are estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times faster than during so-called “normal” geological periods. They have become so intense that a species can disappear in just a few decades. European birds have thus lost 25% of their population in only 30 years, which represents a loss of 500 million birds.
https://www.polytechnique-insights.com/en/braincamps/society/nutrition-disease-biodiversity-do-we-need-a-new-relationship-with-animals/defaunation-25-of-the-worlds-birds-disappeared-in-30-years/

The scientists coaxing back nature with sound

When species disappear, so do their sounds. But scientists are exploring new techniques to use recordings of these very sounds to bring nature back.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230519-the-sound-recordings-used-to-coax-back-species

Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics

Researchers are increasingly placing microphones in forests and other ecosystems to monitor birds, insects, frogs, and other animals. As the technology advances and becomes less costly, proponents argue, bioacoustics is poised to become an important remote-sensing tool for conservation.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/listening-to-nature-the-emerging-field-of-bioacoustics

The effects of defaunation on plants’ capacity to track climate change

Half of all plant species rely on animals to disperse their seeds. Seed dispersal interactions lost through defaunation and gained during novel community assembly influence whether plants can adapt to climate change through migration.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk3510

Archived soundscape recordings could be used for purposes we haven’t yet thought of. Watson agrees: “The beauty is [that] a kid who hasn’t been born yet will be writing algorithms that’ll be used to analyse historic data that we’re collecting and storing right now.”

https://www.local.gov.uk/pas/events/pas-past-events/biodiversity-net-gain-local-authorities

How a hugely popular smartphone app is reshaping the hobby and reach of birding

Millions of people who once had to rely on their own eyes and ears to identify birds are now using Merlin to instantly tell them what they’re hearing. It can not only identify multiple birds at once, the app picks up the huge percentage of the species you can’t even see.
https://flyinglessons.us/2023/11/09/how-a-hugely-popular-smartphone-app-is-reshaping-the-hobby-and-reach-of-birding/

Tracking multiple species’ range expansions or contractions via a grid of listening stations could help scientists understand how environmental change disrupts the ecological connections among species and better plan nature preserves in a warmer future.

The Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O) is a continental-scale acoustic sensor network, recording for a five-year period across multiple Australian ecosystems.

Australian researchers are installing 100 sets of recorders in different ecosystems across the country.
https://acousticobservatory.org/

Acoustic enrichment can enhance fish community development on degraded coral reef habitat

Healthy coral reefs have an acoustic signature known to be attractive to coral and fish larvae during settlement. Here the authors use playback experiments in the field to show that healthy reef sounds can increase recruitment of juvenile fishes to degraded coral reef habitat, suggesting that acoustic playback could be used as a reef management strategy.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6884498/

Beaked Whales Respond to Simulated and Actual Navy Sonar

These data are consistent with the conclusion that, similar to harbor porpoises [6], beaked whales are particularly sensitive in terms of behavioral responses to acoustic exposure.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3056662/

In a 2020 paper, researchers described how they played recordings of rainfall to trigger breeding in frogs.

Biotic and abiotic sounds affect calling activity but not plasma testosterone levels in male frogs (Batrachyla taeniata) in the field and in captivity.
They measured the vocal activity and testosterone (T) of frogs after sound playbacks. In the laboratory, calling individuals had higher T levels than silent males.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X18304720?via%3Dihub

Scientists are restoring oyster reefs off the coast of Australia using underwater speakers they made themselves to encourage wild oyster larvae back to the area to settle on the newly restored habitat.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230519-the-sound-recordings-used-to-coax-back-species

Baby oysters follow the crackling sound of snapping shrimp

Though oysters may be brainless bivalves, they can “hear” and swim towards attractive sounds of the sea. This opens the possibility of playing marine sounds to attract oysters to reef restoration projects, accelerating their recovery.
https://theconversation.com/baby-oysters-follow-the-crackling-sound-of-snapping-shrimp-182514

So in 2020, armed with a pair of solar-powered loudspeakers and an MP3 player, Wegmann and his team set up a "seabird discotheque" to blast out bird calls 24/7 in an attempt to guide the eight missing seabird species home.

On Earth Day (April 22), the Natural History Museum is launching a major new community science project ‘Nature Overheard’, investigating the link between noise pollution and insect populations.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/take-part/monitor-and-encourage-nature/nature-overheard.html

At the same time, a community science project run by the Natural History Museum is using people power to record roadside sounds all over the UK

to monitor biodiversity in these spaces.
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/may/listening-to-nature-in-cities-and-towns.html

Noisy neighbours: Listening in to nature in cities and towns

Researchers at the Museum are now working out how to use recordings from urban gardens, trees, soil and even ponds to monitor the biodiversity that lives in our towns and cities.
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/may/listening-to-nature-in-cities-and-towns.html

Can we fix our ocean noise problem?

Researchers are uncovering just how large the impact of man-made noise is on ocean life. But there are some surprisingly simple ways we could tackle this overlooked pollution problem.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220712-how-to-fix-our-ocean-noise-pollution-problem

Hildebrand has called for a long-term, global ocean noise monitoring system that's accessible to anyone anywhere.

Not only would researchers be able to better track changes this way, activists or politicians looking to push for policy change could also easily refer to real-time problem areas.
https://www.mmc.gov/wp-content/uploads/hildebrand.pdf

Carbon Rewild is built on the passion for protecting the environment and the natural world. We’re on a mission to make biodiversity monitoring accessible to all, to build a nature positive future.

https://carbonrewild.com/

Ecologists are coaxing back seabirds to Palmyra Atoll with sounds of their calls.

NASA project looks into sounds of nature during eclipse

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A few minutes of totality on April 8 might leave many speechless, but what impact does this sudden darkness have on nature?
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2024/03/29/nasa-project-looks-into-sounds-of-nature-during-eclipse

More than 800 plants and bulbs have been planted in Bradford city centre to encourage insects to pollinate the area all year round.

Bradford's Darley Street Market garden bids to attract insects year-round.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1e807lwq20o

Soundscape enrichment enhances recruitment and habitat building on new oyster reef restorations

Within just a few short years we've brought an extinct ecosystem back from the dead.
Enhancing marine soundscapes on newly constructed reefs using speaker technology may ensure sufficient recruitment to establish a trajectory of recovery for the desired habitat.
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14307

Bradford Live: Bat boxes added to city's new music venue

Conservationists have praised the addition of bat and bird boxes to the new Bradford Live music venue.
Workers used a hydraulic platform to install 40 boxes on the outside of the former Odeon cinema which is undergoing a multi million-pound refit before reopening.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crgg8xk52gro

A Planetary Computer for a Sustainable Future

The Planetary Computer is a geospatial project by Microsoft that allows users to query, access, and analyse environmental data at global scales.
This is a notice that the Planetary Computer Hub will be retired on the 6th of June 2024. Please note that this change only affects the Planetary Computer Hub; the Planetary Computer Data and APIs will remain available and unchanged.
https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/

The animals with whom we share our cities

On the one hand, cities are heat islands where it can be difficult to survive. However, in a context of drought, they are also the only places where these animals will always find water. Paradoxically, cities could become a reservoir of biodiversity for these species.
https://www.polytechnique-insights.com/en/columns/planet/the-animals-who-share-our-cities/

Biodiversity Net Gain Bradford: Understanding BNG

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is a planning system whereby developers consider the long-term impact a development project will have in terms of local biodiversity. It aims to ensure that biodiversity is left in a better state than before the development was completed for at least 30 years. This is done by avoiding loss of biodiversity, retaining natural habitats and ecological features.
https://collingtonwinter.com/biodiversity-net-gain-bradford-understanding-bng/

Biodiversity Net Gain for local authorities

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is an approach to development, and/or land management, that aims to leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than it was beforehand.
https://www.local.gov.uk/pas/events/pas-past-events/biodiversity-net-gain-local-authorities

Biodiversity - Strategy and Vision - University of Bradford

In July 2010 we took steps to help improve the population of bees by installing two beehives with 30,000 honeybees on campus in a purpose-built apiary by Shearbridge Car Park.
We now maintain four hives with a total population of around 200,000 bees.
https://www.bradford.ac.uk/about/strategy-vision/sustainability/sustainable-campus/biodiversity/

AI empowered biodiversity research & conservation action

Arbimon has made it possible to uncover critical insights into the behavior and conservation of some of the world’s most endangered species, paving the way to transformative action and a better understanding of our planet by to rapidly analysing thousands of hours of audio recordings to identify specific species’ calls.
https://arbimon.org/