A global network of researchers pools sound data on biodiversity

For the first time passive acoustic monitoring data from all ecological realms have been catalogued on a global scale in a collective effort uniting 350 collaborators working in 57 different countries, coordinated by an INRAE team with French involvement from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN). A summary published in Global Ecology & Biogeography highlights the importance of international collaboration on high-stakes issues such as climate change and the decline in biodiversity.

Passive acoustic monitoring of biodiversity involves capturing the sounds of animals emitted intentionally or unintentionally in a wide variety of ecosystems, using acoustic recorders. It is used to monitor cetaceans, numerous insects and crustaceans, bats and birds, frogs, as well as a large number of fish and other mammals, in order to understand their behaviour, distribution and activities.

Despite common methods being used by scientists across the planet, the collected audio recordings are often not widely shared. This has occurred in part because the scientific communities that carry out this monitoring are often compartmentalised by the type of animal group or habitat that they study.

With this in mind, the Worldwide Soundscapes project, launched in 2021, has made it possible to build up an international team of collaborators in order to pool passive acoustic monitoring data and make significant progress towards obtaining a global overview of the biodiversity of all animal sound groups, as well as the diversity of soundscapes.

57 countries and 12,309 recording sites

The project currently involves 350 collaborators including the FISHBIOACOUSTICS lab.

The Worldwide Soundscapes project has brought together a total of 409 datasets (277 terrestrial, 104 marine, 26 freshwater, 2 subterranean) collected since 1991 in a single database representing no fewer than 12,309 recording sites (147 in polar zones, 9,214 in temperate zones and 2,948 in tropical zones).

Reference

Darras K., Rountree R., Van Wilgenburg S. et al (2025) Worldwide Soundscapes: A Synthesis of Passive Acoustic Monitoring Across Realms. Global Ecology & Biogeography, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70021