Biodiversity Assessment and Environmental Monitoring in Freshwater and Marine Biomes using Ecoacoustics

In terrestrial ecosystems, spatial heterogeneity in landscape features drives species dispersal and distribution through local and regional processes. This chapter reviews the use of traditional and newly developed ecoacoustic approaches to monitor the three soundscape components (biotic, abiotic, and anthropogenic) in different freshwater and marine environments, with the aim to identify gaps in knowledge, and provide recommendations for future applications of ecoacoustic tools to aid in the conservation of freshwater and marine biodiversity. Although recognized as a threat to freshwater species and marine species, underwater noise from commercial and recreational shipping and other human activities has received dramatically less attention in freshwater environments. Several different types of nearshore underwater soundscapes have been characterized in recent years. The open ocean and deep seafloor habitats make up over 70% of the total surface area of Earth, but many of these areas remain relatively poorly studied. Polar marine environments are full of a cacophony of sound.