Sounding the call for a global library of underwater biological sounds
Parsons, M.J.G.; Lin, T.-H.; Mooney, T. A.; Erbe, C.; Juanes, F.; Lammers, M.; Li, S.; Linke, S.; Looby, A.; Nedelec, S.L.; van Opzeeland, I.; Radford, C.; Rice, A.N.; Sayigh, L.; Stanley, J.; Urban, E.; Di Iorio, L. (2022). Sounding the call for a global library of underwater biological sounds. Front. Ecol. Evol. 10: 810156. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.810156
In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Frontiers Media: Lausanne. ISSN 2296-701X; e-ISSN 2296-701X, more
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| Keywords |
Artificial intelligence
Biodiversity
Marine/Coastal |
| Author keywords |
soundscape, bioacoustics database, passive acoustic monitoring, ecological informatics |
| Authors | | Top |
- Parsons, M.J.G.
- Lin, T.-H.
- Mooney, T. A.
- Erbe, C.
- Juanes, F.
- Lammers, M.
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- Li, S.
- Linke, S.
- Looby, A.
- Nedelec, S.L.
- van Opzeeland, I.
- Radford, C.
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- Rice, A.N.
- Sayigh, L.
- Stanley, J.
- Urban, E.
- Di Iorio, L.
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| Abstract |
Aquatic environments encompass the world’s most extensive habitats, rich with sounds produced by a diversity of animals. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is an increasingly accessible remote sensing technology that uses hydrophones to listen to the underwater world and represents an unprecedented, non-invasive method to monitor underwater environments. This information can assist in the delineation of biologically important areas via detection of sound-producing species or characterization of ecosystem type and condition, inferred from the acoustic properties of the local soundscape. At a time when worldwide biodiversity is in significant decline and underwater soundscapes are being altered as a result of anthropogenic impacts, there is a need to document, quantify, and understand biotic sound sources–potentially before they disappear. A significant step toward these goals is the development of a web-based, open-access platform that provides: (1) a reference library of known and unknown biological sound sources (by integrating and expanding existing libraries around the world); (2) a data repository portal for annotated and unannotated audio recordings of single sources and of soundscapes; (3) a training platform for artificial intelligence algorithms for signal detection and classification; and (4) a citizen science-based application for public users. Although individually, these resources are often met on regional and taxa-specific scales, many are not sustained and, collectively, an enduring global database with an integrated platform has not been realized. We discuss the benefits such a program can provide, previous calls for global data-sharing and reference libraries, and the challenges that need to be overcome to bring together bio- and ecoacousticians, bioinformaticians, propagation experts, web engineers, and signal processing specialists (e.g., artificial intelligence) with the necessary support and funding to build a sustainable and scalable platform that could address the needs of all contributors and stakeholders into the future. |
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