Detection ranges of forest bird vocalisations: guidelines for passive acoustic monitoring
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Abstract
Passive acoustic monitoring has proven to have many advantages for monitoring efforts and research activities. However, there are considerations to be taken into account regarding the placement of autonomous sound recorders. Detection ranges differ among species and in response to variable conditions such as weather or the location of vocalising animals. It is thus important to the success of a research project to understand, with a certain degree of confidence, the distances at which birds might be detected. In two types of forests in Poland, we played back the vocalisations of 31 species of European forest birds exemplifying different singing characteristics. Based on recordings obtained along a 500-m transect, we estimated the probability of detection and maximum detection distance of each vocalisation. We broadcasted the recording at three heights of singing and repeated playbacks three times during the breeding season to evaluate the effect of vegetation growth. Our results revealed that environmental and meteorological factors had a significant influence on both detection probability and maximum detection distances. This work provides comprehensive measurements of detection distance for 31 bird species and can be used to plan passive acoustic monitoring research in Europe, taking into account species traits and individual characteristics of the study area.
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Environmental conditions-vegetation structure, wind, humidity, and rainfall-influence sound transmission and detection distance, potentially introducing spatial and temporal biases across large monitoring networks.
“Environmental conditions further shape what sensors record: vegetation structure, wind, humidity, and rainfall influence sound transmission and detection distance, potentially introducing spatial and temporal biases across large monitoring networks”
From Listening forward: emerging roles of bioacoustics in ecology, evolution, and conservation (2026) · cites this paper as Winiarska et al. 2024
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- Authors
- Winiarska, D., Szymański, P., & Osiejuk, T. S.
- Affiliations
- Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (PL)
- Corresponding author
- Winiarska, Dominika
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2024-01-09
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 894-894
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10776575
- OpenAlex
- W4390780517
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 8
- FWCI
- 17.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Avian ecology and behavior
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Keywords
- forest birds, bird vocalizations, passive acoustic monitoring, detection range, detection probability, playback experiments, vegetation growth
- MeSH terms
- Acoustics, Animals, Birds, Europe, Vocalization, Animal, Forests
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