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Integrating soundscape to landscape in the understanding of agricultural transformation in the Neotropical context

  • 1Instituto de Investigacion de Recursos Biologicos Alexander von Humboldt, Bogota, Colombia.
  • 2Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose Caldas, Bogota, Colombia.
  • 3Bird and Mammal Evolution, Systematics and Ecology Lab, Postgraduate Program of Ecology, Institute of Bioscience, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
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June 12, 2025

Abstract

As agriculture continues to expand in tropical regions, effectively preserving biodiversity will rely not only on protected areas but also on sustainable practices within agricultural landscapes. Studying biodiversity changes associated with landscape management is essential for refining practices that support ecosystem resilience and species conservation, but collecting the data required to draw strong conclusions remains challenging because of the high spatial and temporal resolution needed. In this context, passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) offers a valuable solution by enabling researchers to gather continuous, high-resolution biotic signals over time. Using PAM, our objective was to examine how changes in landscape characteristics, specifically heterogeneity and composition, correlate with soundscape patterns including acoustic activity and beta diversity. We collected data across 52 000 ha in the Magdalena River Valley, Colombia, a biodiversity hotspot significantly transformed by palm oil monocultures. We contrasted soundscape data, including acoustic activity and soundscape turnover, with landscape metrics derived from Geographical Information Systems analysed satellite imagery, focusing on landscape composition and configuration. Our analysis showed that compositional and heterogeneity-related landscape variables, such as the proportion of natural cover (NC) and patch shape, were associated with differences in acoustic activity and soundscape homogenization. Specifically, patches with uniform shapes and a lower NC correspond to more homogeneous soundscapes with higher acoustic activity. In contrast, patches with irregular shapes and a higher NC were linked to more heterogeneous soundscapes and lower acoustic activity. By linking soundscape patterns with landscape metrics, we highlight the importance of retaining natural habitat features within productive areas to support acoustic diversity, and by extension, ecological resilience.This article is part of the theme issue 'Acoustic monitoring for tropical ecology and conservation'.

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