🌍 Project Overview
TABMON — Towards a Transnational Acoustic Biodiversity Monitoring Network is a Horizon Europe-funded initiative under Biodiversa+ that establishes a standardised, paneuropean passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) network. We address a critical gap: transforming large-scale acoustic data into standardised, policy-aligned indicators that complement traditional biodiversity surveys and support compliance with EU environmental directives and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.
The network spans from the Arctic (Norway) to the Mediterranean (Spain), capturing acoustic diversity across multiple biogeographic regions. Our approach integrates autonomous sensing, machine learning, and rigorous ecological frameworks to deliver decision-ready information for biodiversity management and conservation policy.
🎯 Strategic Objectives
- Deploy & Operate a distributed network of 100+ autonomous acoustic recorders across Norway, Netherlands, France, and Spain
- Develop Standardised AI Pipelines that reliably convert raw audio into species-level and community-level detections with quantified uncertainty
- Align with Global Frameworks by producing indicators compatible with Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) and CBD/EU targets
- Enable Integration with national and international monitoring programmes to fill reporting gaps and support evidence-based conservation decisions
- Promote Open Science through reproducible workflows, transparent methodologies, and public data sharing (FAIR principles)
💰 Funding & Partnership
🇪🇺 Biodiversa+ (Horizon Europe partnership for biodiversity) with national co-funding from:
- Norwegian Research Council
- Dutch research and funding agencies
- French and Spanish partners
Lead Institution: Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA)
Project Lead: Benjamin Cretois
Duration: 2024–2027
Key Partners Include:
- University of Amsterdam | Tilburg University | Naturalis (Netherlands)
- Statistics Netherlands (CBS) | Sovon (Netherlands)
- Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC) (Spain)
- Université de Toulon / Laboratory of Information Systems (LIS) (France)
- Research institutes and universities across all participating countries
🔊 Why Acoustic Monitoring?
Passive acoustic monitoring is uniquely suited for paneuropean biodiversity assessment:
🌙 Nocturnal & Cryptic Species
- Captures vocal activity of birds 24/7, especially during peak calling periods
- Reaches species and habitats inaccessible to human observers
⏰ High Temporal Resolution
- Continuous long-term monitoring enables detection of phenological shifts, population trends, and early-warning signals
- Supports predictive conservation for rapid environmental change
💡 Cost-Effective Scaling
- Autonomous deployment with minimal operational overhead
- Reduced observer bias and training variability
- Repeatable and comparable across geographic and temporal scales
🔄 Data Standardisation
- Consistent protocols, metadata, and quality metrics across countries
- Enables direct comparison of biodiversity across biogeographic regions
- Supports integration with national and international data portals
🌐 Continuous Monitoring Across Barriers
- Operates in remote, protected, or sensitive areas without disturbance
- Provides high-frequency time series suitable for early-warning systems
🗺️ Geographic Scope & Biogeographic Coverage
Our network strategically spans four European biogeographic regions:
TABMON monitoring clusters across Europe — circle colour indicates the number of devices per site
Norway
Arctic & boreal ecosystems — extreme seasonality, boreal forests, alpine and coastal habitats
Netherlands
Temperate lowland & coastal systems — agricultural landscapes, wetlands, human disturbance gradients
France
Mediterranean & temperate transition — unique acoustic biodiversity, latitudinal and elevational variation
Spain
Mediterranean & montane ecosystems — scrubland, forests, bird migration hotspot
🔬 Scientific Approach
TABMON follows a hierarchical, reproducible framework:
- Network Design: Sites selected along biogeographic, land-use, and climate gradients
- Data Acquisition: Standardised hardware, provisioning, and field protocols ensure comparability
- Quality Assurance: Metadata standards, signal diagnostics, and data versioning tracked throughout
- AI-Based Analysis: Machine learning pipelines with explicit uncertainty quantification
- EBV Alignment: Outputs aggregated into standardised indicators compatible with global frameworks
- Integration: Connection with national programmes and international data portals
- Validation & Communication: Peer-reviewed publications and transparent methodology reporting
📅 Project Milestones
Project Launch & Network Deployment
First devices deployed across 4 countries; field protocols and metadata standards established
Full-Scale Data Collection & AI Development
100+ sensors operational; 25+ TB collected; active learning and classification pipelines developed; first peer-reviewed publications
Analysis, Integration & Publication
TABMON paper published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution; JASA paper on sampling strategies; dashboard and reporting infrastructure operational
Synthesis & Legacy
Final EBV indicators delivered; integration with national monitoring programmes; open data release and framework documentation for future adoption