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Project properties |
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| Title | Ecoacoustics sensing of soil fauna diversity and activity |
| Group | Soil Biology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Alix Vidal (Soil Biology) and Munnaf M Abdul (Agricultural Biosystems Engineering) |
| Examiner(s) | Jan Willem van Groenigen |
| Contact info | abdul.munnaf@wur.nl; khan.wali@wur.nl; alix.vidal@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2025/09/01 |
| End date | |
| Description | Measuring and monitoring of fauna activity traditionally remains cost-ineffective, destructive and time consuming, suggesting for an alternative tool development. Soil ecoacoustics can help identify the presence and abundance of fauna species, providing insights into soil health and ecosystem functioning. In this MSc thesis project, we will use of soil ecoacoustics sensing to monitor fauna speciation and abundance will be explored. Specific objectives are (1) developing protocols for acoustic monitoring of soil organisms, (2) acoustic signal processing and feature engineering, and (3) inferring acoustic information to true observation of fauna’s abundance and diversity. A commercial microphone device will be used to collect acoustic signals as well as physical observations of fauna count, types, and movement will be recorded at laboratory condition. Tasks involved are three folds – integrating sensor to the laboratory setting, recording measurements for few weeks continuously, and analysing acoustic signals and inferential statistics.
The thesis is a collaboration between the Soil Biology group and the Agricultural Biosystems Engineering group. Starting date is flexible. |
| Used skills | |
| Requirements | See description for SBL thesis
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