Human contributions to global soundscapes are less predictable than the acoustic rhythms of wildlife

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60077344%3A_____%2F25%3A00637628" target="_blank" >RIV/60077344:_____/25:00637628 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/60076658:12310/25:43910507

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02786-5.pdf" target="_blank" >https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02786-5.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02786-5" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41559-025-02786-5</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Human contributions to global soundscapes are less predictable than the acoustic rhythms of wildlife

Original language description

Across the world, human (anthropophonic) sounds add to sounds of biological (biophonic) and geophysical (geophonic) origin, with human contributions including both speech and technophony (sounds of technological devices). To characterize society's contribution to the global soundscapes, we used passive acoustic recorders at 139 sites across 6 continents, sampling both urban green spaces and nearby pristine sites continuously for 3 years in a paired design. Recordings were characterized by bird species richness and by 14 complementary acoustic indices. By relating each index to seasonal, diurnal, climatic and anthropogenic factors, we show here that latitude, time of day and day of year each predict a substantial proportion of variation in key metrics of biophony-whereas anthropophony (speech and traffic) show less predictable patterns. Compared to pristine sites, the soundscape of urban green spaces is more dominated by technophony and less diverse in terms of acoustic energy across frequencies and time steps, with less instances of quiet. We conclude that the global soundscape is formed from a highly predictable rhythm in biophony, with added noise from geophony and anthropophony. At urban sites, animals experience an increasingly noisy background of sound, which poses challenges to efficient communication.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

<a href="/en/project/TM03000063" target="_blank" >TM03000063: Joint research and development of key technologies for efficient intelligent fine production and intelligent management and control of facility vegetable plants</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Nature Ecology & Evolution

ISSN

2397-334X

e-ISSN

2397-334X

Volume of the periodical

9

Issue of the periodical within the volume

9

Country of publishing house

DE - GERMANY

Number of pages

14

Pages from-to

1585-1598

UT code for WoS article

001588735600020

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105010256142