Passive acoustic surveys reveal interactions between frugivorous birds and fruiting trees on a large forest dynamics plot

Long-term vegetation plots represent one of the largest types of research investments in ecology, but efforts to interrelate data on plants with that on animals are constrained because of the disturbance produced by human observers. Recent advances in the automated identification of animal sounds on large datasets of autonomously collected audio recordings hold the potential to describe plant-animal interactions, such as between frugivorous birds and fruiting trees, without such disturbance. We deployed an array of nine autonomous recording units (ARUs) on the 400 x 500 m Bubeng Forest Dynamics Plot, in Xishuangbanna, southwest China, and collected a total of 1965 h of recordings across two seasons. Animal Sound Identifier (ASI) software was used to detect the vocalizations of five frugivorous bird species, and the probability of detection was related to the number of mature fruiting trees within a 50 m radius of the ARUs. There were more significant positive relationships than would be expected by chance in analyses that investigated bird/tree interactions across 3 months, both in the wet season and the dry season, as well as in short-term analyses within the dry season months of October and November. The analysis identified 54 interactions between bird and tree species with significant positive relationships. Follow-up observations of birds on the plot validated that such interactions were more likely to be observed than other interactions. We demonstrate that ARUs and automated voice identification can map the distribution and/or movement of vocal animals across large vegetation plots, allowing this data on animals to be inter-related to that on plants. We suggest that ARUs be added to the standardized protocols of the plot network, leveraging their vast amount of information about vegetation to describe plant-animal interactions currently, and monitor changes in the future.

Automated summary

Long-term vegetation plots represent a significant investment in ecology research, but linking plant and animal data is challenging due to human interference. Recent advances in automated animal sound identification offer a solution to study plant-animal interactions without disturbance. By deploying autonomous recording units (ARUs) and using Animal Sound Identifier (ASI) software, researchers were able to detect frugivorous bird vocalizations and observe significant positive relationships between bird and fruiting tree species. These findings demonstrate the potential of ARUs and automated voice identification to study animal distribution and movement in large vegetation plots and link animal data to plant data.