14884 - Automated Biodiversity Surveying Tools: Field Methods Modulübersicht
| Module Number: | 14884 |
| Module Title: | Automated Biodiversity Surveying Tools: Field Methods |
| Automatisierte Werkzeuge zur Biodiversitätserfassung: Feldmethoden | |
| Department: | Faculty 2 - Environment and Natural Sciences |
| Responsible Staff Member: |
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| Language of Teaching / Examination: | English |
| Duration: | 1 semester |
| Frequency of Offer: | Every summer semester |
| Credits: | 6 |
| Learning Outcome: | By the end of this course, students will be able to: - Demonstrate understanding of major terrestrial organism groups relevant to automated biodiversity monitoring. - Describe and compare automated biodiversity monitoring tools, their methodological assumptions, strengths, limitations. - Apply principles of ecological survey design to the planning of automated biodiversity surveys. - Collect, manage, and prprocess biodiversity data generated by automated field methods. - Apply AI-based tools (e.g. BirdNET) to automatically identify species from acoustic or image data. - Conduct field surveys during the excursion using automated and non lethal methods - Interpret biodiveristy patterns across different habitat types and land-use-contexts |
| Contents: | This course combines lectures, hands-on sessions, and a compulsory field excursion to introduce automated methods for surveying and monitoring terrestrial biodiversity. Students work in small groups with modern monitoring tools such as passive acoustic recorders, camera traps, insect monitoring systems, and drones. Lectures provide an overview of the ecological, taxonomic, and methodological foundations of automated biodiversity monitoring, with a focus on birds, bats, and sonant insects. Common and emerging survey methods are presented and critically discussed with respect to their advantages, limitations, and practical challenges. The practical components emphasize non-lethal field methods, including the planning and implementation of monitoring campaigns, device deployment, standardized data collection, and the application of AI-based tools (e.g. BirdNET) for automated species identification. During the field excursion, students conduct independent surveys across different habitat types and analyze the collected data in an ecological and conservation context. |
| Recommended Prerequisites: | Basic knowledge of ecology |
| Mandatory Prerequisites: | None |
| Forms of Teaching and Proportion: |
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| Teaching Materials and Literature: | Teaching materials will be uploaded in Moodle. Scientific papers: A selection of scientific papers will be decided prior to course start. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0295474 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2019.11.003 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11157 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2010.00062.x
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| Module Examination: | Continuous Assessment (MCA) |
| Assessment Mode for Module Examination: | Student presentation (10 min) during the excursion and at the regular classes (25%), field exercises and practical method applications during the excursion (data collection) (25%), report created during the excursion (data analysis) (25%), discussions and other interactions facilitated by students during the excursion and at the regular classes (25%).
Details about the filed exercises and data collection, the report and the interactions will be discussed and specified during the excursion. |
| Evaluation of Module Examination: | Performance Verification – graded |
| Limited Number of Participants: | 10 |
| Part of the Study Programme: |
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| Remarks: | None |
| Module Components: | 240325 Lecture/Seminar: Automated biodiversity surveying tools: field methods 240326 Excursion: Biodiversity recording and analysis with Audiomoth and/or other tools. Analysing audio (or other) data. |
| Components to be offered in the Current Semester: |