BioAIRad

‍Motivation

‍The movements of birds, insects and bats in the airspace link otherwise separated habitats, communities and ecosystems, and have implications for various ecological processes, raise human-wildlife conflicts and provide services (pollination, seed-dispersal, pest control, nature’s contribution to people) and disservices (pathogen dispersal, agricultural damage) that are relevant to human agriculture, economy and health. Biodiversity monitoring of this important yet largely overlooked habitat can only be achieved with remote-sensing technology such as radars. Due to their continuous operation and large-scale coverage, radars constitute a unique resource for establishing a standardized biodiversity monitoring system for the airspace (Figure 1). However, to tap the full potential of radars for biodiversity monitoring and produce tools for various societal sectors, data science approaches are needed to increase the taxonomic resolution of radar products, to interpolate between individual radar locations and to develop predictive models of aerial movements of birds, bats and insects.

Proposed Approach / Solution

‍BioAIRad aims to take the field of biodiversity monitoring using radars to the next level by advancing the taxonomic resolution of small-scale and weather radars, with a particular focus on insect identification, and by developing interpolation and predictive models of bird and insect biomass flows in the airspace that lay the foundation to a range of stakeholder tools. Within BioAIRad we will improve, extend, or newly develop animal classification algorithms for data from ‘conventional’ small-scale radars (type MR1), next-generation small-scale radars (type MR2), and weather radars, respectively. As the datasets differ between radar systems, different methods will be developed for each radar type. Finally, we will develop methods to interpolate and predict aerial movements in three-dimensional space building on data and methods developed using weather radar and small-scale radars.

Impact

‍In addition to biodiversity monitoring and research, this project will benefit many stakeholders, for which aerial insect, bat and bird diversity and movements are relevant. For wind farm operators, the project could be useful in their impact assessment as well as operational curtailment.  In aviation safety, the results of the project could be utilized in bird strike prevention. In nature conservation management, quantification of aerial biodiversity might benefit from the progress made in the duration of BioAIRad. In agriculture, the models developed in the project could be used for immigration forecasting of crop pests, or as dispersal vectors for diseases of crop and livestock. Epidemiologists and public health agencies might benefit in their studies of spread of zoonotic diseases by migratory animals. In meteorology, the project extends the value of existing infrastructure, and could potentially lead to improved meteorological products.

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Figure 1. Two major radar systems are currently used for the monitoring of aerial insect, bat and bird numbers and movements: small-scale vertical looking radars and large-scale weather radars that differ in basic measurement characteristics and consequently, also in features that can be extracted and in their taxonomic resolution. This project will use data from two types of small-scale radar (MR1 and next-gen MR2), as well as weather radar – the basic measurement characteristics of which are depicted as well as the current distribution of devices in Europe (a), sample picture for small-scale (b) and weather radar devices (c) as well as a typical image of weather radar data (d).‍