arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 20

ChiroEcho: extending automated bat vocalisation classification beyond the learned taxonomy

ChiroEcho is a deep learning framework that jointly predicts bat species and genus, then uses genus predictions together with geographic species distributions to identify species not present in the training taxonomy. By incorporating geographic constraints, the system expands its effective taxonomy, enabling classification of 41 out of 48 native European bat species—an increase from 73% to 85% coverage. The study demonstrates that limited evaluation data can mask species‑level performance and that combining coarse predictions with external constraints can recover labels for unseen fine‑grained classes.

By Burooj Ghani, Welmoed Eversteijn, Milan van Hirtum, Juan Sebasti\'an Ca\~nas, Vincent J. Kalkman, Dan Stowell, A. Leonie Baier
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 24

Active Learning for Biodiversity Monitoring: From Label Efficiency to Reliable Ecological Inference

The paper discusses how active learning (AL) can alleviate the expert annotation bottleneck in biodiversity monitoring by selecting the most informative samples under a fixed budget. It highlights that while AL reduces labeling effort, its non-random sample selection complicates model validation, calibration, and ecological inference, issues often overlooked in current studies. The authors review existing AL research across acoustic and image data, identify gaps such as limited species coverage and lack of real-world deployments, and propose a tutorial framework and roadmap for developing AL methods that support efficient training, reliable validation, and trustworthy ecological conclusions.

By Ben McEwen, Shiqi Zhang, Dan Stowell
Hugging Face Trending Papers
Jul 15

MetaPerch: Learning from metadata for bioacoustics foundation models

Bioacoustic foundation models rely on large-scale citizen science platforms like Xeno-Canto for geographically and ecologically diverse data. Recent work has shown that supervision alone can produce SotA species detection models when trained on this large-scale data -- however, there remains unutilized potential in the form of recording metadata readily available within these community-driven data hubs.