Report on the use of passive acoustic monitoring in Kluane National Park Reserve

Passive acoustic monitoring has proven to be a valuable tool for studying vocalizing species. Environmental sensors are becoming increasingly easy to program and can autonomously generate extensive data sets of the soundscape, becoming an invaluable resource for ecological integrity monitoring. Kluane National Park Reserve deployed autonomous recording units (ARUs) at 24 locations (Auriol Trail, Quill Creek) as part of the Ecological Integrity Monitoring Program (2015–2024) and 9 contributing to the National Prescribed Burn Protocol. ARUs detected 44 species, including both birds and mammals. Trends show stable relative abundance at the Auriol Site and consistent species richness across years in the areas slated for prescribed burns in 2025. While bat data revealed some positive detections of Little Brown Bat, significant deployement improvements are needed to maximize detection rates and data quality. Sustained monitoring of these areas following prescribed burns, incorporating enhanced equipment protocols to optimize detections of bats, as well as broader scope in recording data collection, will optimize the effectiveness of the ongoing monitoring program. Future data collection can be facilitated by more advanced models and analyses.