Worldwide Soundscapes: A Synthesis of Passive Acoustic Monitoring Across Realms
Kevin Darras, Rodney A. Rountree, Steven L. Van Wilgenburg, Anna F. Cord, Frederik Pitz, Youfang Chen, Lijun Dong, Agnès Rocquencourt, Camille Desjonquères, Paula Trujillo Díaz, Tzu‐Hao Lin, Théophile Turco, Louise Emmerson, Tom Bradfer‐Lawrence, Amandine Gasc, Sarah A. Marley, M.R.J. Salton, Laura Schillé, Paul J. Wensveen, Shih‐Hung Wu, Adriana Carolina Acero-Murcia, Orlando Acevedo‐Charry, Matyáš Adam, Jacopo Aguzzi, Irmak Akoglu, M. Clara P. Amorim, Mina Anders, M. André, Alexandre Antonelli, Leandro Do Nascimento, Giulliana Appel, Stephanie K. Archer, Christos Astaras, Andrey Atemasov, Jamieson Atkinson, Joël Attia, Emanuel Ştefan Baltag, Luc Barbaro, Fritjof Basan, Carly Batist, Júlio Baumgarten, Just T. Bayle‐Sempere, Kristen Bellisario, A David, Oded Berger‐Tal, Frédéric Bertucci, Matthew G. Betts, Iqbal Singh Bhalla, Thiago Bicudo, Marta Bolgan, Sara Bombaci, Gérard Bota, Martín Boullhesen, Robert A. Briers, Susannah J. Buchan, Michał Budka, Katie Burchard, Giuseppa Buscaino, Alice Calvente, Marconi Campos‐Cerqueira, Maria Isabel Carvalho Gonçalves, María Ceraulo, Maite Cerezo‐Araujo, Gunnar Cerwén, Adams A. Chaskda, М. Д. Чистополова, Christopher W. Clark, Kieran Cox, Benjamin Cretois, Chapin Czarnecki, Luís P. da Silva, Wigna da Silva, Laurence H. De Clippele, D. Haye, Ana Silvia de Oliveira Tissiani, Devin R. de Zwaan, M. Eugenia Degano, Jessica L. Deichmann, Joaquín del Río Fernández, Christian Devenish, Ricardo Dı́az-Delgado, Pedro Diniz, Dorgival Diógenes Oliveira‐Júnior, T. Dorigo, Saskia Dröge, Marina H. L. Duarte, Adam Duarte, Kerry Dunleavy, Robert P. Dziak, Simon Élise, Hiroto Enari, Haruka S. Enari, Florence Erbs, Britas Klemens Eriksson, Pınar Ertör‐Akyazi, Nina Ferrari, Luane S. Ferreira, Abram B. Fleishman, Paulo J. Fonseca, Bárbara Freitas
Abstract
ABSTRACT Aim The urgency for remote, reliable and scalable biodiversity monitoring amidst mounting human pressures on ecosystems has sparked worldwide interest in Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM), which can track life underwater and on land. However, we lack a unified methodology to report this sampling effort and a comprehensive overview of PAM coverage to gauge its potential as a global research and monitoring tool. To address this gap, we created the Worldwide Soundscapes project, a collaborative network and growing database comprising metadata from 416 datasets across all realms (terrestrial, marine, freshwater and subterranean). Location Worldwide, 12,343 sites, all ecosystem types. Time Period 1991 to present. Major Taxa Studied All soniferous taxa. Methods We synthesise sampling coverage across spatial, temporal and ecological scales using metadata describing sampling locations, deployment schedules, focal taxa and audio recording parameters. We explore global trends in biological, anthropogenic and geophysical sounds based on 168 selected recordings from 12 ecosystems across all realms. Results Terrestrial sampling is spatially denser (46 sites per million square kilometre—Mkm 2 ) than aquatic sampling (0.3 and 1.8 sites/Mkm 2 in oceans and fresh water) with only two subterranean datasets. Although diel and lunar cycles are well sampled across realms, only marine datasets (55%) comprehensively sample all seasons. Across the 12 ecosystems selected for exploring global acoustic trends, biological sounds showed contrasting diel patterns across ecosystems, declined with distance from the Equator, and were negatively correlated with anthropogenic sounds. Main Conclusions PAM can inform macroecological studies as well as global conservation and phenology syntheses, but representation can be improved by expanding terrestrial taxonomic scope, sampling coverage in the high seas and subterranean ecosystems, and spatio‐temporal replication in freshwater habitats. Overall, this worldwide PAM network holds promise to support cross‐realm biodiversity research and monitoring efforts.