Open Field Recorder

Open Field Recorder

The Open Field Recorder (OFR) was designed and created by Invisible Flock to assist research teams based in North Sumatra.

The recorders were designed to continuously record vast sections of primary and secondary rainforest with minimal human interference to help evidence biodiversity across the forest zones through bioacoustic analysis. This durational audio archive of this rainforest is the only one of its kind.

Partners

Forum Conservation Leuser

LEAP

SOCP

Bournemouth University

A herd of Sumatran elephants on camera trap passing the OFR in the forest

A herd of Sumatran elephants on camera trap passing the OFR in the forest

Installing OFRs with SOCP in Sumatra

Installing OFRs with SOCP in Sumatra

The OFR was designed to function in the difficult conditions of the rainforest for long periods of time, with little human upkeep, in order to accurately monitor the biodiversity of the different forest areas. The OFR was our attempt to bridge a gap that was not currently being fulfilled by other products on the market (2018) allowing us to record high quality stereo audio across multiple devices spread over 16sq km and synced via GPS. 
The recordings were used to help evidence biodiversity across the forest zones through bioacoustic analysis. The research has helped to lobby for the protection of secondary forest areas from deforestation in Aceh, Indonesia.
This durational audio archive of this rainforest is the only one of its kind, and features species such as the endangered sumatran elephant, tiger, hornbill and orangutan to name a few.
The OFR has further been deployed throughout the COVID -19 lockdown during 2020/21 in the North of Finland to record the sound of the yearly freeze as part of an ongoing project to map climatic changes with the Sub Zero collective of artists and scientists working on the edge of the Arctic.
With support and in collaboration with Forum Conservation Leuser and Professor Amanda H Korstjens from LEAP.
OFR Git Hub

Related works

OFR in research

Living on the edge: Forest edge effects on microclimate and terrestrial mammal activity in disturbed lowland forest in Sumatra, Indonesia.

A dataset of acoustic measurements from soundscapes collected worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic