Soil ecoacoustics for land management

该项目的目的是开发一个利用生物声学监测农业土壤中蚯蚓和其他土壤动物活动的系统。以“大数据”规模记录和存储自然声音是可能的，处理可以快速识别声音，以区分动物的物种或功能群。蚯蚓对于维持所有户外种植系统的土壤健康至关重要，有助于作物产量的可持续生产。它们也是许多农场野生动物的重要食物资源。目前，农民通过挖掘样本坑然后提取其中的蠕虫来评估蚯蚓的数量和多样性，但这是劳动密集型的，花费时间和金钱。农民们告诉我们，需要一个技术辅助的农业制图系统。在试点工作中，我们已经表明，可以记录土壤中生物的声学特征，然后可以用于生物多样性监测，包括生物丰度和活动。与人工评估相比，土壤声学监测可以在几分钟内产生结果，这将带来很大的好处。农民会在晚上（蠕虫活动最大的时候）把探头放在土壤里，并记录声音输出。然后通过算法将输出与声音库进行比较，以确定蚯蚓的丰度，多样性和活动水平。土壤音景包含帮助我们了解和监测功能生物多样性的信息。对噪音的描述包括爆裂声、咕噜声和刺耳声，这些声音可能来自他们的嘴或动作。夜间活动的蚯蚓用它们的嘴撕裂和拖拽树叶，移动石头和杠杆树枝进入洞穴。蚯蚓在土壤剖面中广泛地挖洞，材料变形时会产生声发射。在这里，我们使用了仿生启发的产品设计，基于鸟类使用声音识别土壤中的蠕虫作为食物的事实。我们将使用声学监测设备，在扰动和被动情景下，记录和分析土壤声景，并将其与田间蚯蚓的丰度和多样性联系起来。本项目将（1）开发一个原型，记录和分析土壤中蠕虫的声音，（2）在受控实验中建立蚯蚓和其他大型无脊椎动物的声学特征库，（3）在田间设置录音设备，记录不同田间类型和土地管理措施的音景，并将这些音景与土地分配联系起来。

The aim of this project is to develop a system for monitoring the activity of earthworms and other soil fauna in agricultural soils using bioacoustics. Recording and storing natural sounds at 'big data' scales is possible and processing can rapidly identify sounds to distinguish species or functional groups of animals.Earthworms are critically important for maintaining soil health across all outdoor cropping systems, helping in the sustainable production of crop yields. They are also important as a food resource for many species of farm wildlife. At present, farmers assess the numbers and diversity of earthworms by digging sample pits and then extracting the worms within them, but this is labour intensive, costing time and money. Farmers have told us that a technologically assisted system of earthworm mapping is needed. In pilot work we have shown that it is possible to record the acoustic signatures of organisms within the soil, which could then be used for biodiversity monitoring including earthworm abundance and activity. There would be substantial benefits in soil acoustic monitoring which could generate results in minutes compared to manual assessment. Farmers would place probes within the soil at night (when worm activity is loudest) and record the sound output. This would then be analysed by algorithms that compare the output to a sound library to identify the abundance, diversity and activity levels of earthworms present.Soil soundscapes contain information that helps us understand and monitor functional biodiversity. Descriptions of earthworm noises include popping, slurping and rasping, which may come from their mouth or movements. Nocturnal anecic earthworms use their mouths to tear and drag leaves, move stones and lever twigs into their burrows. Earthworms burrow extensively through the soil profile and materials undergoing deformation generate acoustic emissions.Here we are using a biomimicry inspired product design, based on the fact that birds use sound to identify worms in the soil for food. We will use acoustic monitoring devices, under perturbation and passive scenarios, to record and analyse the soil soundscape and relate this to the abundance and diversity of earthworms within fields.This project will (1) develop a prototype to record and analyse the sounds of worms in soil, (2) construct a library of acoustic signatures from earthworms and other macroinvertebrates in controlled experiments, (3) deploy recording devices within the field to record soundscapes in different field types and land management practices and relate these to earthworm distribution.