This dataset contains audio files for TERN Mitchell Grass Rangeland SuperSite. Long-term recordings of the environment can be used to identify sound sources of interest, characterise the soundscape, aid in the assessment of fauna biodiversity, monitor temporal trends and track environmental changes.
Mitchell Grass Rangeland SuperSite is located at Rosebank Station, approximately 11 km south-east of Longreach in Queensland. The site is arid tussock grassland with a variety of grass species including Astrebla lappacea and Astrebla squarrosa over black vertosol soil that supports sheep and beef cattle grazing. For additional site information, see https://www.tern.org.au/tern-observatory/tern-ecosystem-processes/mitchell-grass-rangeland-supersite/.
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.
Mitchell Grass Rangelands site is located on a property currently managed by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (previously Longreach Pastoral College). Equipment and data collection are managed by Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
Australian Acoustic Observatory: A Network to Monitor Biodiversity Project Team, with funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council (LE170100033) (2018). Brisbane, QLD: QUT [www.acousticobservatory.org]
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 80Â dB signal-to-noise ratio, 14Â dBA self-noise, -28Â dB sensitivity, and a flat response (+2Â dB between 80Â Hz and 20Â kHz). Sensors have a gain of 50Â dB. They are mounted on 1.8Â 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 22,050Â Hz and a depth of 16Â 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.
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