Researchers have shown how sounds recorded with low-cost microphones can be used to track infectious disease risk in rainforests and other rapidly changing landscapes.
The study, published in Trends in Parasitology and led by the University of Glasgow, explains how listening to ecosystem sounds can help us understand what drives the spread of disease between animals and humans.
The findings are the result of a partnership between researchers at the University of Glasgow, the Danau Gillan Field Center in Malaysia and the Rainforest Connection. Rainforest Connection is an NGO that uses recordings to monitor endangered species and send real-time alerts to prevent poaching and illegal logging. tropical rain forest.
To track illegal activity, Rainforest Connection uses microphones to detect human noise in the forest. Specifically, rather than conversations, they hear sounds of activities such as chainsaws, gunshots, and moving through the woods.
Researchers describe how this acoustic monitoring, a cost-effective, non-invasive tool, can be effectively used to strengthen early warning systems and improve disease surveillance.
By recording the sounds animals make, researchers can detect changes in wildlife that can affect human disease risk. For example, track changes in the frequency of animal calls to identify mass mortality in wildlife due to disease outbreaks.
Acoustic data can be used to determine the location and behavior of animals in areas where zoonotic diseases (malaria, yellow fever, rabies, trypanosomiasis, Rift Valley fever, etc.) are present and may pose a danger to other humans or animals. can be used to detect changes in Acoustic monitoring does not replace existing field-based methods used to track disease risk, but researchers believe it can be a novel and useful tool when used in conjunction with current methods. I think it is possible that
Passive acoustic monitoring is commonly used for wildlife conservation. It is used to investigate the dynamics and behavioral trends of noisy animal populations, including sounds that we cannot hear, such as echolocation.
This study, conducted in collaboration with the Danau Gillan Field Center in Borneo, Malaysia, demonstrates how acoustic monitoring can be used to monitor the spread of the zoonotic disease malaria from monkeys to mosquitoes to humans. rice field.
For mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, detecting human activity during times when mosquitoes are most active can indicate increased disease risk and identify where people are exposed to infectious mosquitoes. can be used to identify Within Malaysia’s rainforest and plantation areas, researchers have now set up acoustic surveillance grids to track when monkeys migrate to mosquito-infested areas.
Disease risk patterns are rapidly changing in regions experiencing large-scale deforestation and intensive agriculture. Researchers discuss how sound installations can be placed in a variety of landscapes, from virgin jungles to oil palm plantations, to uncover links between land use and human health.
Emilia Johnson, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, Department of Biodiversity, University of Glasgow, said: Activity meets wildlife habitat.
“Recordings offer the opportunity to collect and analyze useful data in real-time on a very wide range of scales. In this way, acoustic surveys complement existing surveillance methods and create a dynamic ecosystem that underpins the epidemiology of infectious diseases. It can provide important new insights into
Original: Mike could help track disease risk in the wild
Than: University of Glasgow
