The Role of Birds and Conservation Challenges 00:00
Birds play vital roles in ecosystems through pollination and seed dispersal.
Bird songs and calls provide insights into habitat health and are used to monitor populations.
Hawaii faces a conservation crisis, known as the extinction capital of the world, having lost almost three-fourths of its native bird species.
Mosquitoes, introduced by humans, brought avian malaria, causing many species to go extinct.
Remaining native birds are limited to high elevations, but rising temperatures due to global warming are expanding mosquito habitats, putting more birds at risk.
Using Technology and AI for Bird Conservation 00:53
Researchers deploy recording equipment in forests to collect bioacoustic data, tracking bird populations and responses to conservation efforts.
Manual analysis of acoustic data is too slow and risks missing critical time to act before further extinctions occur.
Collaboration with Google led to the development of “Perch,” an AI model for rapid species identification and detection of new bird sounds.
“Perch search” can scan hours of soundscape recordings quickly, identifying individual species and tracking changes in bird activity.
Monitoring adult and baby bird activity in areas treated for mosquitoes helps assess conservation effectiveness.