… and kindly keep your Frenchmen jokes to yourself. . . .
Dial-A-Frog – Researchers Develop the ‘FrogPhone’ To Remotely Call Frogs in the Wild
British Ecological Society / 05 December 2019
And now, the award for the best use of “whilst” in a sentence:
Researchers have developed the ‘FrogPhone’, a novel device which allows scientists to call up a frog survey site and monitor them in the wild. The FrogPhone is the world’s first solar-powered remote survey device that relays environmental data to the observer via text messages, whilst conducting real-time remote acoustic surveys over the phone. These findings are presented in the British Ecological Society Journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution today.
{Sigh}:
The FrogPhone introduces a new concept that allows researchers to “call” a frog habitat, any time, from anywhere, once the device has been installed. The device has been developed at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra and the University of Canberra in collaboration with the Australian Capital Territory and Region Frogwatch Program and the Australian National University.
It took three organizations?
The FrogPhone utilises 3G/4G cellular mobile data coverage and capitalises on the characteristic wideband audio of mobile phones, which acts as a carrier for frog calls.
Sounds like an ad for a phone network.
Real time frog calls can be transmitted across the 3G/4G network infrastructure, directly to the user’s phone. This supports clear sound quality and minimal background noise, allowing users to identify the calls of different frog species.
Still sounds like an ad for a phone network.
“We estimate that the device with its current microphone can detect calling frogs from a 100-150m radius” said lead author Dr. Adrian Garrido Sanchis, Associate Lecturer at UNSW Canberra.
“The device allows us to monitor the local frog population with more frequency and ease,
Might have been cheaper to dump a bunch of Alexas in the Outback.
which is significant as frog species are widely recognised as indicators of environmental health” said the ACT and Region Frogwatch coordinator and co-author, Anke Maria Hoefer.
The FrogPhone unifies both passive acoustic and active monitoring methods, all in a waterproof casing.
Waterproof — Duh.
Wait: I get the “passive acoustic,” but what are the active monitoring methods?
The system has a large battery capacity coupled to a powerful solar panel.
Define “powerful.”
…
Acoustic monitoring of animals generally involves either site visits by a researcher or using battery-powered passive acoustic devices, which record calls and store them locally on the device for later analysis. These often require night-time observation, when frogs are most active. Now, when researchers dial a device remotely, the call to the FrogPhone can be recorded indirectly and analysed later.
Thus negating the advantages of “real-time” monitoring.
Ms. Hoefer remarked that “The FrogPhone will help to drastically reduce the costs and risks involved in remote or high intensity surveys. Its use will also minimize potential negative impacts of human presence at survey sites. These benefits are magnified with increasing distance to and inaccessibility of a field site.”
Fair dinkum.
…
The use of the current FrogPhone is limited to areas with adequate 3G/4G phone coverage.
Here we go with the ads again. Or is it a plea for more funding?
Secondly, to listen to frogs in a large area, several survey devices would be needed.
Yup. More funding.
In addition, it relies on exposure to sunlight.
That’s the price you pay for being politically correct.
And another “More Funding” alert:
Future additions to the FrogPhone could include a satellite communications module for poor signal areas, or the use of multidirectional microphones for large areas. Lead author Garrido Sanchis emphasized that “In densely vegetated areas the waterproof case of the FrogPhone allows the device to be installed as a floating device in the middle of a pond, to maximise solar access to recharge the batteries”.
Hope — like a FrogPhone — floats.
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