Vanderbilt lab develops app for analyzing crowd-sourced songbird recordings
Amateur birders and citizen scientists will soon have a novel way to contribute to groundbreaking research.
With a new app, created and shared by the team at laboratory of Nicole Creanza, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and @EvolutionVU member, researchers can better leverage crowdsourced fieldwork and audio recordings from bird enthusiasts to accelerate the progress of research on naturally occurring songbird behaviors.
Coined Chipper for its ability to ‘chip’ songs into easily measured syllables and notes, the app uses code developed by Vanderbilt graduate student Abigail Searfoss to analyze audio collected using a variety of different personal recording devices. The methodology and app are detailed in a new study, published recently in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.