Ecoacoustics Offer a Holistic Way to Monitor Soil Health

Listening to the symphony beneath us, or lack thereof, can reveal a lot about how healthy the ground is

Hiya!

I’ve enjoyed working in my backyard this summer, under a pagoda surrounded by flowers. Usually, I play music as I work, but when I’m outside, I often favor listening to the sounds around me instead — birds chattering, bees buzzing, squirrels munching.

But while I’ve appreciated the melodious nature above ground, it wasn’t until I learned about today’s topic that I became curious about the sounds below me — the symphony of creatures in the ground navigating the soil, hunting, feeding, and mating.

Researchers found a new way to use a common acoustic surveying method called “ecoacoustics” to listen in on the world beneath our feet. And they’re using it to monitor biodiversity in a less intrusive, costly, and resource-reliant way than modern techniques.

Ecoacoustics

Humans have been recording the sounds of nature for over a century, basically since technology has existed to do so. However, using those recordings to study ecosystems is a much newer discipline known as ecoacoustics.

Ecoacoustics is a field of science investigating anthropogenic (human-made) and natural sounds and their relationships with the environment over multiple scales of time and space.

Acoustic technology is mainly used to survey bats, birds, and other animal populations. More recently, scientists have expanded its use to survey the health of other ecosystems, like caves, coral reefs, and oyster beds, and using the recordings in conservation or restoration efforts in degraded areas.

Yet, despite the technology's demonstrable effectiveness at detecting even tiny animal vibrations, scientists haven’t utilized it to study the hidden, underground ecosystem bursting with life — until now.

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