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Echoes Across the Julian Alps

Step into the high valleys with us as we launch Mapping Biodiversity Through Sound: An Ecoacoustic Survey of the Julian Alps, a listening-led journey where microphones become field guides. From predawn forests to glacial meadows, we translate choruses into living maps, tracing habitats, migrations, and moments of quiet resilience. Discover how sound reveals what clouds, cliffs, and darkness often hide, and learn simple ways you can listen, record, and help protect these resonant mountain communities.

Why Ears Outperform Eyes in Wild Mountains

Steep slopes, shifting weather, and nocturnal lives make visual surveys miss crucial stories. Listening stretches across fog, night, and tangled understory, capturing shy species and rare moments without intruding. With autonomous recorders and robust indices, we compare days, seasons, and elevations, assembling evidence that links songs, stridulations, and calls to habitats, climate cues, and conservation decisions grounded in measurable, repeatable patterns.
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Setting Up Mountainside Microphones

Placing autonomous units in the Julian Alps means juggling altitude, exposure, and habitats. We spread recorders along north and south aspects, beneath larch and spruce, beside streams, and near scree. Weatherproofing, battery management, and synchronized clocks keep comparisons fair, while site notes, photos, and GPS traces anchor every clip to place and context.
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Decoding Alpine Soundscapes

Data bloom after the hike. We compute Acoustic Complexity, Acoustic Diversity, and the Normalized Difference Soundscape Index, then pair indices with habitat, elevation, and weather layers. Spectrogram review and machine learning validate patterns, separating insects, birds, mammals, and people, while quality checks and calibration tones maintain reliable, comparable baselines across sites and years.
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Species You Can Hear Before You See

Before Sunrise: Forest Drums and Whistles

In predawn hush, black woodpecker drums carry like distant carpenters, while song thrush and robin phrases braid the canopy. Capercaillie sequences—clicks, pops, and wheezing finales—reveal lek sites without a single footstep. Recording respectfully at distance protects breeding success and keeps encounters intimate, ethical, and scientifically robust.

Noon in the Meadows

In predawn hush, black woodpecker drums carry like distant carpenters, while song thrush and robin phrases braid the canopy. Capercaillie sequences—clicks, pops, and wheezing finales—reveal lek sites without a single footstep. Recording respectfully at distance protects breeding success and keeps encounters intimate, ethical, and scientifically robust.

After Dark: Ultrasound Highways

In predawn hush, black woodpecker drums carry like distant carpenters, while song thrush and robin phrases braid the canopy. Capercaillie sequences—clicks, pops, and wheezing finales—reveal lek sites without a single footstep. Recording respectfully at distance protects breeding success and keeps encounters intimate, ethical, and scientifically robust.

Human Footprints in the Sound

Sound reveals not only wildlife but also choices we make. Aircraft carve dawn skies; roads murmur beneath passes; ski lifts click; chainsaws announce brief works; summer festivals rise from valleys. Quantifying these signatures helps identify refuges, schedule activities thoughtfully, and open conversations about quieter seasons that benefit visitors and residents.

Counting Engines Above Clouds

We mark overflights, helicopter shuttles, and distant turboprops, then compare event rates to breeding calendars. Some ridges endure rush hours, while adjacent cirques remain calm. Mapping these contrasts supports flight-path dialogue and suggests modest adjustments that leave commerce intact yet safeguard fragile, time-sensitive courtships and foraging bouts.

Quiet Windows for Wildlife

Acoustic baselines reveal hours when sensitive species are most vocal and vulnerable. Trail maintenance, festivals, and training flights can shift to lower-impact windows. When communities coordinate, we witness stronger nesting success and richer choruses, while visitors enjoy deeper immersion, noticing details once masked by avoidable, human-made noise.

Stories from Shepherd Huts

Cowbells complicate indices yet anchor cultural landscapes. Conversations over tea yielded maps of seasonal grazing, storm lore, and paths where bells pause. Incorporating such knowledge keeps results grounded, turning potential conflicts into collaborations that honor tradition while creating strategies to protect wildlife moments that matter most each year.

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From Recordings to Maps

Each clip carries coordinates, elevation, and time, letting us stitch a living atlas. We grid landscapes, compute indices per cell, and trace corridors shaped by water, forest age, and human rhythm. The resulting layers support restoration, trail design, and cross-border planning linking Slovenia and Italy through shared mountain voices.
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Field Notes You Can Try This Weekend

Pick a safe overlook, record ten minutes at sunrise, then annotate: wind, water, birds, insects, people, machines. Repeat weekly from spring to fall. You will hear patterns emerge, sharpen identification skills, and contribute baseline snapshots that, combined, reveal changes too gradual for any single walk to catch.

Send Us Your Sounds

We host a simple portal for uploads and notes. Share date, time, and location, plus what you observed. Our team reviews, tags, and folds clips into maps, crediting contributors. Together we build a resilient archive that benefits science, schools, and everyone seeking quieter, richer mountain experiences.

What We’re Listening For Next

Next steps link recordings with microclimate loggers, snow-depth models, and plant phenology, clarifying how climate nudges voices upslope. We are also expanding along transhumance routes and above treeline. Tell us where you wonder about silence or noise, and we’ll co-design listening that answers practical, place-based questions. 
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