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Acoustic indices as proxies for biodiversity: a meta-analysis
Irene Alcocer1,2, Herlander Lima3, Larissa Sayuri Moreira Sugai1,2,4
1Terrestrial Ecology Group, Departamento de Ecología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/ Darwin, 2, Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco, Facultad de Ciencias, Edificio de Biología, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
|August 18, 2022
Summary
Acoustic indices offer a moderate link to biodiversity metrics but show inconsistent performance. Caution is advised when using them as sole biodiversity surrogates, as they partially capture but do not directly proxy ecological diversity.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Bioacoustics
- Conservation Biology
Background:
- Biodiversity loss necessitates effective ecological monitoring tools.
- Acoustic indices are emerging as rapid biodiversity assessment methods using soundscape data.
- Controversies exist regarding the reliability of acoustic indices as proxies for biological diversity.
Approach:
- Conducted a meta-analysis of 364 effect sizes from 34 studies.
- Reviewed relationships between 11 acoustic indices and various diversity metrics.
- Assessed the influence of environment type and biological information extraction method.
Key Points:
- Acoustic indices show a moderate positive relationship (r=0.33) with diversity metrics but with high variability.
- Acoustic entropy index (H), normalized difference soundscape index (NDSI), and acoustic complexity index (ACI) performed better.
- Abundance of sounds was the best-estimated diversity facet; no effect of environment type or extraction method was found.
Conclusions:
- Acoustic indices have limitations in quantifying alpha biodiversity and should be used cautiously as sole diversity surrogates.
- While partially capturing diversity changes, they are not direct proxies for biodiversity.
- Future research should address statistical issues like pseudoreplication and explore more metric, taxa, and region combinations for standardized monitoring.
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