De-novo assembly of four rail (Aves: Rallidae) genomes: A resource for comparative genomics.

Rails are a phenotypically diverse family of birds that includes 130 species and displays a wide distribution around the world. Here we present annotated genome assemblies for four rails from Aotearoa New Zealand: two native volant species, pūkeko and mioweka , and two endemic flightless species takahē and weka . Using the sequence read data, heterozygosity was found to be lowest in the endemic flightless species and this probably reflects their relatively small populations.

Experimental test of birdcall detection by autonomous recorder units and by human observers using broadcast.

Autonomous recording units are now routinely used to monitor birdsong, starting to supplement and potentially replace human listening methods. However, to date there has been very little systematic comparison of human and machine detection ability. We present an experiment based on broadcast calls of nocturnal New Zealand birds in an area of natural forest.

The impact of environmental factors in birdsong acquisition using automated recorders.

The use of automatic acoustic recorders is becoming a principal method to survey birds in their natural habitats, as it is relatively noninvasive while still being informative. As with any other sound, birdsong degrades in amplitude, frequency, and temporal structure as it propagates to the recorder through the environment. Knowing how different birdsongs attenuate under different conditions is useful to, for example, develop protocols for deploying acoustic recorders and improve automated detection methods, an essential part of the research field that is becoming known as ecoacoustics.