Rolawn, the UK’s leading supplier of turf and topsoil, has partnered with AgriSound to run the...
Project Duration:
18 Months - August 2024 to January 2026.
Project Partners:
AgriSound, Baker Consultants Ltd, Crop Innovations CIO.
Funder:
Innovate UK
Objective:
To develop the first fully-automated acoustic landscape monitoring system, capable of generating, analysing, and reporting biodiversity metrics in real time, providing landowners, conservationists, and policymakers with actionable insights at scale.
Technology & Innovation:
🐝 Maintenance-free acoustic devices for remote deployment, powered by bespoke audio analysis algorithms.
🐝 Automated generation of biodiversity metrics, including acoustic indices as proxies for bird populations.
🐝 Data streamed via low-power 2G cellular connections into AgriSound’s AI-driven web platform for analysis and visualisation.
🐝 Integration of soundscape data with automated landscape characterisation metrics for holistic ecosystem assessment.
Project Scope:
The project will begin with initial development and testing at a dedicated field research facility, before moving into wider validation across multiple geographies and real-world end-user settings. From the outset, end-users—including developers, farmers, landowners, and conservation groups—will be actively engaged in the process to ensure the system delivers practical, relevant outputs that address their specific needs.
Industry Challenges Addressed:
🐝 Skills gap: shortage of ecologists to meet the rising demand for biodiversity monitoring under schemes like ELMS and Biodiversity Net Gain.
🐝 Fragmented metrics: existing biodiversity measures are variable and hard to interpret; A-BioMe provides standardised, synthesised outputs.
🐝 Impact verification: landowners and managers often lack robust evidence of how interventions affect biodiversity; the system will deliver clear, objective data.
Impact Goals:
🐝 Enable large-scale, low-cost verification of biodiversity outcomes for schemes such as Biodiversity Credits, Biodiversity Net Gain, and ELMS.
🐝 Provide land managers with real-time, accessible insights to inform habitat management.
🐝 Create a scalable biodiversity surveillance network to support policy, conservation, and commercial needs.
Significance:
By combining acoustic monitoring, AI-driven analysis, and scalable deployment, A-BioMe will deliver a groundbreaking solution for biodiversity verification and natural capital assessment. This approach will support the UK’s policy priorities, reduce reliance on limited ecological expertise, and provide end-users with a reliable, user-friendly tool to monitor and enhance biodiversity.
