DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7415473
title: Worldwide Soundscapes project meta-data

description: The Worldwide Soundscapes project is a global, open inventory of spatio-temporally replicated soundscape datasets. This Zenodo entry comprises the data tables that constitute its (meta-)database, as well as their description. The overview of all sampling sites can be found on the corresponding project on ecoSound-web, as well as a demonstration collection containing selected recordings. More information on the project can be found here and on ResearchGate. The audio recording criteria justifying inclusion into the meta-database are: Stationary (no transects, towed sensors or microphones mounted on cars) Passive (unattended, no human disturbance by the recordist) Ambient (no spatial or temporal focus on a particular species or direction) Spatially and/or temporally replicated (multiple sites sampled at least at one common daytime or multiple days sampled at least in one common site) The individual columns of the provided data tables are described in the following. Data tables are linked through primary keys; joining them will result in a database. <strong>datasets</strong> dataset_id: incremental integer, primary key name: name of the dataset. if it is repeated, incremental integers should be used in the "subset" column to differentiate them. subset: incremental integer that can be used to distinguish datasets with identical names collaborators: full names of people deemed responsible for the dataset, separated by commas contributors: full names of people who are not the main collaborators but who have significantly contributed to the dataset, and who could be contacted for in-depth analyses, separated by commas. date_added: when the datased was added (DD/MM/YYYY) URL_open_recordings: if recordings (even only some) from this dataset are openly available, indicate the internet link where they can be found. URL_project: internet link for further information about the corresponding project DOI_publication: DOI of corresponding publications, separated by comma core_realm_IUCN: The core realm of the dataset. Datasets may have multiple realms, but the main one should be listed. Datasets may contain sampling sites from different realms in the "sites" sheet. IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology (v2.0): https://global-ecosystems.org/ medium: the physical medium the microphone is situated in protected_area: Whether the sampling sites were situated in protected areas or not, or only some. GADM0: For datasets on land or in territorial waters, Global Administrative Database level0<br> https://gadm.org/ GADM1: For datasets on land or in territorial waters, Global Administrative Database level1<br> https://gadm.org/ GADM2: For datasets on land or in territorial waters, Global Administrative Database level2<br> https://gadm.org/ IHO: For marine locations, the sea area that encompassess all the sampling locations according to the International Hydrographic Organisation. Map here: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=44e04407fbaf4d93afcb63018fbca9e2 locality: optional free text about the locality latitude_numeric_region: study region approximate centroid latitude in WGS84 decimal degrees longitude_numeric_region: study region approximate centroid longitude in WGS84 decimal degrees sites_number: number of sites sampled year_start: starting year of the sampling year_end: ending year of the sampling deployment_schedule: description of the sampling schedule, provisional temporal_recording_selection: list environmental exclusion criteria that were used to determine which recording days or times to discard high_pass_filter_Hz: frequency of the high-pass filter of the recorder, in Hz variable_sampling_frequency: Does the sampling frequency vary? If it does, write "NA" in the sampling_frequency_kHz column and indicate it in the sampling_frequency_kHz column inside the deployments sheet sampling_frequency_kHz: frequency the microphone was sampled at (sounds of half that frequency will be recorded) variable_recorder: recorder: recorder model used microphone: microphone used freshwater_recordist_position: position of the recordist relative to the microphone during sampling (only for freshwater) collaborator_comments: free-text field for comments by the collaborators validated: This cell is checked if the contents of all sheets are complete and have been found to be coherent and consistent with our requirements. validator_name: name of person doing the validation validation_comments: validators: please insert the date when someone was contacted cross-check: this cell is checked if the collaborators confirm the spatial and temporal data after checking the corresponding site maps, deployment and operation time graphs found at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qfwXH_7dpFCqyls-c6b8RZ_fbcn9kXbp?usp=share_link <strong>datasets-sites</strong> dataset_ID: primary key of datasets table dataset_name: lookup field site_ID: primary key of sites table site_name: lookup field <strong>sites</strong> site_ID: unique site IDs, larger than 1000 for compatibility with ecoSound-web site_name: name or code of sampling site as used in respective projects latitude_numeric: exact numeric degrees coordinates of latitude longitude_numeric: exact numeric degrees coordinates of longitude topography_m: for sites on land: elevation. For marine sites: depth (negative). in meters freshwater_depth_m realm: Ecosystem type according to IUCN GET https://global-ecosystems.org/ biome: Ecosystem type according to IUCN GET https://global-ecosystems.org/ functional_group: Ecosystem type according to IUCN GET https://global-ecosystems.org/ comments <strong>deployments</strong> dataset_ID: primary key of datasets table dataset_name: lookup field deployment: use identical subscript letters to denote rows that belong to the same deployment. For instance, you may use different operation times and schedules for different target taxa within one deployment. start_date_min: earliest date of deployment start, double-click cell to get date-picker start_date_max: latest date of deployment start, if applicable (only used when recorders were deployed over several days), double-click cell to get date-picker start_time_mixed: deployment start local time, either in HH:MM format or a choice of solar daytimes (sunrise, sunset, noon, midnight). Corresponds to the recording start time for continuous recording deployments. If multiple start times were used, you should mention the latest start time (corresponds to the earliest daytime from which all recorders are active). If applicable, positive or negative offsets from solar times can be mentioned (For example: if data are collected one hour before sunrise, this will be "sunrise-60") permanent: is the deployment permanent (in which case it would be ongoing and the end date or duration would be unknown)? variable_duration_days: is the duration of the deployment variable? in days duration_days: deployment duration per recorder (use the minimum if variable) end_date_min: earliest date of deployment end, only needed if duration is variable, double-click cell to get date-picker end_date_max: latest date of deployment end, only needed if duration is variable, double-click cell to get date-picker end_time_mixed: deployment end local time, either in HH:MM format or a choice of solar daytimes (sunrise, sunset, noon, midnight). Corresponds to the recording end time for continuous recording deployments. recording_time: does the recording last from the deployment start time to the end time (continuous) or at scheduled daily intervals (scheduled)? Note: we consider recordings with duty cycles to be continuous. operation_start_time_mixed: scheduled recording start local time, either in HH:MM format or a choice of solar daytimes (sunrise, sunset, noon, midnight). If applicable, positive or negative offsets from solar times can be mentioned (For example: if data are collected one hour before sunrise, this will be "sunrise-60") operation_duration_minutes: duration of operation in minutes, if constant operation_end_time_mixed: scheduled recording end local time, either in HH:MM format or a choice of solar daytimes (sunrise, sunset, noon, midnight). If applicable, positive or negative offsets from solar times can be mentioned (For example: if data are collected one hour before sunrise, this will be "sunrise-60") duty_cycle_minutes: duty cycle of the recording (i.e. the fraction of minutes when it is recording), written as "recording(minutes)/period(minutes)". For example: "1/6" if the recorder is active for 1 minute and standing by for 5 minutes. sampling_frequency_kHz: only indicate the sampling frequency if it is variable within a particular dataset so that we need to code different frequencies for different deployments recorder subset_sites: If the deployment was not done in all the sites of the corresponding datasest, site IDs can be indicated here, separated by commas comments