Summary Monitoring biodiversity over large spatial and temporal scales is crucial for assessing the impact of global changes and environmental mitigation measures. However, large‐scale monitoring of invertebrates remains poorly developed despite the importance of these organisms in ecosystem functioning. Exciting possibilities applicable to professional and citizen science are offered by new recording techniques and methods of semi‐automated species recognition based on sound detection. Static broad‐spectrum detectors deployed to record throughout whole nights have been recommended for standardised acoustic monitoring of bats, but they have the potential to also collect acoustic data for other species groups. Large‐scale deployment of such systems is only viable when combined with robust automated species identification algorithms. Here we examine the potential of such a system for detecting, identifying and monitoring bush‐crickets (Orthoptera of the family Tettigoniidae). We use incidental sound recordings generated by an extensive citizen science bat survey and recordings from intensive site surveys to test a semi‐automated step‐wise method with a classifier for assigning species identities. We assess species’ diel activity patterns to make recommendations for survey timing and interpretation of existing nocturnal data sets and consider the feasibility of determining site occupancy. Of six species of bush‐crickets, the species classifier achieved over 85% accuracy for three, speckled bush‐cricket, dark bush‐cricket and Roesel's bush‐cricket. It should be possible to automatically scan recordings for these species with minimal manual validation. Further refinement of the classifier is required for the three remaining species, in particular for the acoustically similar short‐winged conehead and long‐winged conehead. Diel activity patterns are species specific and it may be necessary to adjust the hours over which the detectors record to increase detection of key species, but this must be weighed against the costs in terms of increased memory and battery use and equipment security during daytime. We conclude that with logistical support and centralised semi‐automated species identification it is now possible for the public to contribute to large‐scale acoustic monitoring of Orthoptera while recording bats. Further innovation of sound classifier algorithms is needed and would be aided by improved reference sound libraries from multiple locations spanning species’ ranges.

PurposeOver the last century, internal medicine education of medical students and residents has been dominated by "attending rounds " on inpatient teaching services. However, these teaching sessions have changed substantially over the last several decades with increased patient turnover and more pressure to limit inpatient stays. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of increased patient care workload on quality of inpatient teaching rounds.MethodsFor 2 consecutive years (2004 and 2005), trained research assistants surveyed residents working on our internal medicine inpatient teams during a 3-month summer block. After attending rounds, residents and interns were asked to complete a short questionnaire, which included rating the following statements on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree): "My rounds went well " and "My attending spent enough time teaching. " Daily census data were collected for each of the internal medicine teams during the survey period, including patient census, the number of discharges, and the number of admissions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and simple correlations to assess the association of patient workload (census, discharges, and admissions) on resident ratings of teaching rounds.ResultsA total of 163 attending rounds sessions were evaluated, with a total of 271 resident surveys returned. Residents were generally pleased with rounds, with a mean rating of the "My rounds went well " statement of 4.2 6 0.7 and a mean rating of "My attending spent enough time teaching " of 4.1 6 0.9. The average census for inpatient services was 8.6 6 3.0 with an average of 2.1 discharges and 2.2 admissions each day. Total team census was negatively correlated with both subjective rating of rounds that went well (r = 2.26, p < .0001) and with the time spent teaching during rounds (r = 2.13, p = .05). In addition, residents gave lower ratings of rounds when a greater number of discharges occurred that day (r = 2.14, p = .03).ConclusionsResident rating of attending rounds quality was negatively associated with an increase in patient census and workload. Residency programs must determine the optimum census and workload to ensure balance of patient care and teaching on inpatient medicine rotations.