Cumberland Plain Woodland Acoustic Data Collection - TERN

This dataset contains audio files for TERN Cumberland Plain Woodland SuperSite. Long-term recordings of the environment can be used to identify sound sources of interest, characterise the soundscape, aid in the assessment of fauna biodiversity, monitor temporal trends and track environmental changes.

Cumberland Plain Woodland SuperSite was established in 2012 in a protected remnant of Shale Gravel Transition Forest, located on the Hawkesbury Campus of the University of Western Sydney in New South Wales. The vegetation at the site is dominated by Eucalyptus moluccana and E. fibrosa, which have hosted a population of mistletoe (Amyema miquelii); a subcanopy of Melaleuca decora is visible in some gaps. The ecosystem is subject to pressure from altered fire regimes, urban development, conversion to agriculture and extreme climate events. However, the forest patch at the site is in excellent condition with the exception of edge effects. For additional site information, see https://www.tern.org.au/tern-observatory/tern-ecosystem-processes/cumberland-plain-supersite/.

In 2011 an acoustic recorder was set up to collect audio data for a total of 12 hours per day, split between six hours around dawn and six hours around dusk. A second recorder was added in 2012, and two more were added in 2014. The recording schedule aimed at capturing morning and evening bird choruses while minimizing memory and battery requirements. A long-term spectrogram has been generated for each audio file to aid in data exploration. The sensors also recorded temperature, minimum- maximum- and mean-sound pressure levels.

Data are made available through the data link. For downloading large amount of data, please follow these instructions How to download TERN's acoustic data in bulk