This dataset contains audio files from Queensland Trust for Nature (QTFN) Aroona site. This site was established in 2025 by QTFN, QUT and TERN with co-investment by the Queensland Government Research Infrastructure Co-investment Fund (RICF) QTFN’s Aroona Station is a 2,000-ha property in the significant wildlife corridor Little Liverpool Range on Yugara Country, 55 km south-west of Ipswich. A working cattle property for over 50 years with large areas of diverse native vegetation that supports varied and viable populations of conservation-significant wildlife, Aroona Station showcases how nature conservation, best practice land management and sustainable beef production can co-exist in harmony. In 2020 four acoustic recorders were set up to collect audio data continuously as part of the Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O) project. Two recorders were placed in relatively wet habitats and two in relatively dry habitats.
Credit
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. This research site is managed by the Queensland Trust for Nature (QTFN), this data collection is supported by staff from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
This work is jointly funded by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), an Australian Government National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) project with co-investment by the Queensland Government Research Infrastructure Co-investment Fund (RICF)
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Purpose
Long-term acoustic recordings are collected to characterise the acoustic sources in the ecosystem. Recordings can be used to estimate biodiversity, monitor temporal changes in the soundscape, compare the acoustic characteristics of different locations, and assess the effect of particular events such as bushfires and floods.
Lineage
Four acoustic sensors are set up to collect audio data continuosly as part of the A2O project. Sensors are Frontier Labs Solar BAR. Each sensor has a Primo EM172 microphone with an 80 dB signal-to-noise ratio, 14 dBA self-noise, -28 dB sensitivity, and a flat response (+2 dB between 80 Hz and 20 kHz). Sensors have a gain of 50 dB. They are mounted on 1.8 m star pickets and powered by solar panels. Data are recorded continuously. Recordings are made as single channel, two-hour long flac files. They have a sampling rate of 22,050 Hz and a depth of 16 bits.
The four sensors are deployed in pairs. Each pair contains a wet and a dry sensor. Wet sensors are located within 50 m from the edge of a body of water. Dry sensors are located between 500 m and 5 km from their corresponding wet sensors. Wet–wet and dry–dry sensor points are at a distance between 500 m and 5 km.
