DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10598949
title: Worldwide Soundscapes project meta-data

description: The Worldwide Soundscapes project is a global, open inventory of spatio-temporally replicated passive acoustic monitoring meta-datasets (i.e. meta-data collections). 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.

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 directional microphone or triggered recordings)

Spatially and/or temporally replicated (i.e. multiple sites sampled at the same time and/or multiple days - covering the same daytime - sampled at the same 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. The data shared here only includes validated collections.

Changes from version 1.0.0

audio data moved to deployments table. datasets are called collections. Lookup fields and some collection table fields removed.

collections



collection_id: unique integer, primary key

name: name of the dataset. if it is repeated,  incremental integers should be used in the "subset" column to differentiate them.

ecoSound-web_link: link of validated collections that were uploaded to ecoSound-web

primary_contributors: full names of people deemed corresponding contributors who are responsible for the dataset

secondary_contributors: full names of people who are not primary contributors but who have significantly contributed to the dataset, and who could be contacted for in-depth analyses

date_added: when the datased was added (YYYY-MM-DD)

URL_open_recordings: internet link of openly-available recordings from this collection

URL_project: internet link for further information about the corresponding project

DOI_publication: DOIs of corresponding publications

core_realm_IUCN: The main, core realm of the dataset

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. boolean

locality: optional free text about the locality

spatial_selection: spatial selection criteria that were used to determine in which locations to record sound (ecotone, elevated spot, etc.) - any deviations from randomness

temporal_exclusion: environmental exclusion criteria that were used to determine which recording days or times to discard

freshwater_recordist_position: position of the recordist relative to the microphone during sampling (only for freshwater)

contributor_comments: free-text field for comments by the primary contributors


collections-sites



dataset_ID: primary key of collections table

site_ID: primary key of sites table


sites



site_ID: unique integer, primary key

site_name: name or code of sampling site as used in respective projects

latitude_numeric: site's numeric degrees of latitude

longitude_numeric: site's numeric degrees of longitude

blurred_coordinates: whether latitude and longitude coordinates are inaccurate, boolean. Coordinates may be blurred with random offsets, rounding, snapping, etc. Indicate the blurring method inside the comments field

topography_m: vertical position of the microphone relative to the sea level. for sites on land: elevation. For marine sites: depth (negative). in meters. Only indicate if the values were measured by the collaborator.

freshwater_depth_m: microphone depth, only used for sites inside freshwater bodies that also have an elevation value above the sea level

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/

contributor_comments: free text field for contributor comments


deployments



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