| Title: |
A global assessment of BirdNET performance: Differences among continents, biomes, and species |
| Authors: |
Funosas, David; Sebastián‐gonzález, Esther; Morant, Jon; Marín Gómez, Oscar, H; Mendoza, Irene; Mohedano‐munoz, Miguel, A; Santamaría, Eduardo; Bastianelli, Giulia; Márquez-Rodríguez, Alba; Budka, Michał; Bota, Gerard; Alonso-Moya, Cristina; de la Peña-Rubio, José; de la Morena, Eladio; Santa-Cruz, Manu; de la Nava, Pablo; Fernández-Tizón, Mario; Sánchez-Mateos, Hugo; Barrero, Adrián; Traba, Juan, Juan; Osiejuk, Tomasz, S; Hart, Patrick, J; Navine, Amanda; Montoya Muñoz, Andrés, F; de Araújo, Carlos; Rosa, Gabriel L.M.; Torres, Ingrid M.D.; Catalano, Ana L.C.; Simões, Cassio Rachid; Llusia, Diego; Morales, Manuel; Acebes, Pablo; Medina, Juan; Brown, Nicholas; Astaras, Christos; Karmiris, Ilias; Navarrete, Elizabeth; Cauchoix, Maxime; Barbaro, Luc; Arend, Dominik; Mueller, Sandra; González‐garcía, Fernando; González-Romero, Alberto; Mammides, Christos; Pontikis, Michaelangelo; Jacuzzi, Giordano; Olden, Julian; Bombaci, Sara; Marcacci, Gabriel; Jacot, Alain; Zurano, Juan; Gangenova, Elena; Varela, Diego; Di Sallo, Facundo; Zurita, Gustavo; Atemasov, Andrey; Tremblay, Junior; Lamarre, Vincent; Hutschenreiter, Anja; Monroy-Ojeda, Alan; Díaz-Vallejo, Mauricio; Chaparro-Herrera, Sergio; Briers, Robert; Sousa-Lima, Renata; Pinheiro, Thiago; da Silva, Wigna; Calvente, Alice; Paz, Raiane; Salustio-Gomes, Carlos; Oliveira-Júnior, Dorgival; Lima-Santos, Cicero; Pichorim, Mauro; Molin, Anamaria Dal; Antonelli, Alexandre; Gogoleva, Svetlana; Palko, Igor; Trong, Hiếu; Duarte, Marina H.L.; dos Santos Saturnino, Natalia; Silva, Samuel; Rainho, Ana; Lopes, Paula; Schuchmann, Karl-L.; Marques, Marinêz; de Oliverira Tissiani, Ana; Littlewood, Nick; Tuanmu, Mao-Ning; Kepfer-Rojas, Sebastian; Aguilera, Andrea; Brotons, Lluís; Feldman, Mariano; Imbeau, Louis; Panwar, Pooja; Weed, Aaron; Dehwal, Anant; Attisano, Alfredo; Theuerkauf, Jörn; Goodale, Eben; Darras, Kevin F.A.; Pérez-Granados, Cristian |
| Contributors: |
Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale (SETE); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Fédération de Recherche Agrobiosciences, Interactions et Biodiversité (FR AIB); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Toulouse (EPE UT); Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse (Comue de Toulouse)-Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse (Comue de Toulouse)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Toulouse (EPE UT); Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse (Comue de Toulouse)-Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse (Comue de Toulouse); Universidad de Alicante; Universidad del Quindio (UNIQUINDIO); Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD); Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas España = Spanish National Research Council Spain (CSIC); Universidad Rey Juan Carlos = Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC); Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR); Universidad de Cádiz = University of Cádiz (UCA); Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu = Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (UAM); Landspcape Dynamics and Biodiversity Program Solsona, Spain; Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia Solsona, Spain (CTFC); Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC); Blue Nature Birding; Biodiversity Node Spain; MITOX Consultants/Eurofins; SEO/BirdLife; IREC CSIC UCLM JCCM; Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC); Adresse Perso; Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM); Departamento de Ecologıa and Centro de Investigacion en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (CIBC) Spain; University of Hawai'i Hilo; CONICET-UNC Córdoba Argentina; ConservaSom; State University of Londrina = Universidade Estadual de Londrina; BUTEO Environmental Initiatives; Imperial College London; Ellinikos Georgikos OrGanismos-DIMITRA (ELGO -DIMITRA); Dynamiques et écologie des paysages agriforestiers (DYNAFOR); Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Purpan (EI Purpan); Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg = University of Freiburg; Red de Interacciones Multitroficas, Instituto de Ecología A.C., Xalapa, Veracruz, CP 91070, Mexico.; Frederick University; University of Cyprus Nicosia (UCY); School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (University of Washington); Colorado State University Fort Collins (CSU); Swiss Ornithological Institute; V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (KhNU); Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC); Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México = National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); Universidad Veracruzana; Red de Biología Evolutiva; Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla; Edinburgh Napier University; Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte Natal (UFRN); Royal Botanic Gardens Kew; Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS); Vietnam-Russia Tropical Science and Technology Research Center; Centre for Ecology - Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c); Universidade de Lisboa = University of Lisbon = Université de Lisbonne Lisboa (ULISBOA); Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte; Cobotique, Bio-ing Robotique pour l'Assistance Institut Pprime (COBRA); Département Génie Mécanique et Systèmes Complexes Institut Pprime (Département GMSC); Institut Pprime UPR 3346 (PPrime Poitiers ); Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers (UP)-École Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et d’Aérotechnique Poitiers (ISAE-ENSMA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers (UP)-École Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et d’Aérotechnique Poitiers (ISAE-ENSMA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pprime UPR 3346 (PPrime Poitiers ); Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers (UP)-École Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et d’Aérotechnique Poitiers (ISAE-ENSMA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers (UP)-École Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et d’Aérotechnique Poitiers (ISAE-ENSMA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Scotland's Rural College (SRUC); Biodiversity Research Center Tapei (BRCAS Sinica); Academia Sinica; Københavns Universitet = University of Copenhagen = Université de Copenhague (UCPH); Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC); Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT); Dartmouth College Hanover; U.S Department of Interior (US-DOI); Bradley University; Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk = Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences = Musée et Institut de zoologie, Académie polonaise des sciences (MIZ PAN = MIZ PAS); Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU); Ecosystèmes forestiers (UR EFNO); Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE); Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB); DF was funded by the University of Toulouse; CP-G was funded by Departament de Recerca i Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya through the 2021-SGR 00302 project; and ES-G was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), NextGenerationEU/PRTR, ESF Investing in D. Funosas Ecological Indicators 182 (2026) 11455013 your future (TED2021-130890B-C21 and RYC2019-027216-I), and HORIZONMSCA-2021-SE-0 (action number: 101086387). |
| Source: |
ISSN: 1470-160X. |
| Publisher Information: |
CCSD; Elsevier |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier: HAL-UPS |
| Subject Terms: |
Automated detection; Confidence threshold; Deep learning; BirdNET; Bird communities; Passive acoustic monitoring; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology |
| Description: |
International audience ; Recent advances in machine learning have accelerated automated species detection across diverse ecological domains, enabling large-scale, non-invasive monitoring of biodiversity. In ornithological research, the combination of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) and rapidly-developing novel identification tools such as Bird-NET—a deep learning–based sound recognition algorithm—offers new opportunities for surveying vocally active bird communities. Here, we present the first worldwide evaluation of BirdNET using 4224 one-minute recordingsfrom 67 sites across all continents annotated by local experts. More specifically, we assessed the capacity of BirdNET to accurately identify individual vocalizations and characterize bird communities based on the automated analysis of passively collected soundscapes. We further analyzed how its performance varies across continents, biomes, species, and minimum confidence thresholds. The proportion of correct BirdNET predictions (precision) was generally high and consistent across continents (range: 0.57–0.71) and biomes (range: 0.55–0.76). In contrast, the proportion of vocalizations successfully detected (recall) was generally lower and more heterogeneous across continents (range: 0.24–0.52) and biomes (range: 0.34–0.72), reflecting differences in species coverage and local ecological context. BirdNET predictive power, as measured by the Precision-Recall Area Under the Curve (PR AUC; higher values indicating better performance), was highest in North America,Oceania, and Europe (range: 0.16–0.23), moderate in Central/South America (0.13), and lowest in Africa and Asia (range: 0.03–0.04). Species-specific analyses revealed substantial heterogeneity in detection accuracy, with optimal confidence thresholds varying widely by species and analytical goal. Our results establish a global reference point for BirdNET reliability and highlight where algorithmic refinement and expanded acoustic sampling are most needed. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
WOS: 001672380000001 |
| DOI: |
10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114550 |
| Availability: |
https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05490415; https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05490415v1/document; https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05490415v1/file/2026-Barbaro-EcolIndicators.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114550 |
| Rights: |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ; info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.E2B3473D |
| Database: |
BASE |