Agri-TechE’s event will showcase the technologies and emerging research that’s available to help us better understand, monitor and manage what’s going on beneath our feet, and the impact these things can have on farming and land management.
Soil health is increasingly being recognised for playing a vital role in maintaining or restoring functional ecosystems. An important aspect of soil health is faunal diversity. However, this can be difficult to monitor, requiring invasive techniques and a high-level of expertise. The use of ecoacoustic techniques provides a potential solution to this problem, with soil ecoacoustics being a new but rapidly developing field.
Some recent studies have demonstrated the method’s effectiveness at detecting soil fauna, and Baker Consultants is developing a range of analytical techniques to apply ecoacoustics to UK soil health monitoring. Many of the soil functions that concern landowners, and in particular farmers, are generated by earthworms – which make a range of sounds that enable acoustic monitoring of their activities. In addition, a range of beetle larvae and other macro and meso-fauna generate sounds that can be recorded in the field.
Carlos and Karthik’s talk will present results from pilot studies showing how earthworms and other fauna can be monitored using emerging ecoacoustic techniques. They will also discuss a study published in Restoration Ecology that demonstrates the detectable differences in soil soundscapes between forest restoration sites and deforested areas, as well as the future applications for soil acoustics and the wide range of potential new applications for this exciting new technology, which could provide vital insights for agricultural management, rewilding, BNG and habitat restoration projects.
Find out more about the event here. If you’re attending and interested in speaking to Carlos and Karthik, get in touch by calling us on +44 (0)1629 593 958 or email us on ecoacoustics@bakerconsultants.co.uk to arrange an informal chat at the event.
The Baker Consultants team is highly experienced and we are passionate about what we do. If you need advice related to ecology, surveys or conservation, then please get in touch with us via our contact form on the website, or you can call us on +44 (0)1629 593958 or email us on info@bakerconsultants.co.uk.