Road impact assessment on the soundscape of a Costa Rican rainforest using dominant frequencies.

Soundscape evaluation through automated methods is an easy technique, which provides useful information about the characteristics of the surrounding landscape and biodiversity. Among others, soundscape includes the sound of birds, amphibians, mammals, and wind. These sounds are widely classified as biological, anthropogenic, or geophysical. In this research, we wanted to evaluate the effect of roads on the soundscape in tropical forests. We researched in Braulio Carrillo National Park, Costa Rica, where the soundscape was evaluated across the spectrum of dominant frequencies (1-11 kHz). Twelve recorders (Song Meter SM2, Wildlife Acoustics Inc.) were placed at three distances from the Ruta 32 road. These distances were 50 meters, 800 meters, and in the interior of the rainforest entirely out of the road effect. In each distance, recorders were placed 200 meters from each other. The sound was evaluated in intervals of 1-kHz, which are readily interpretable. For example, geophony occurs between 1-2 kHz and most biophony between 2-8 kHz. It is challenging to extract meaningful information from these large datasets. We used acoustic indices to describe the behaviour of the soundscape such as the acoustic complexity index (ACI), and the normalised difference soundscape index (NDSI). The importance of continuing to use this type of measurements is discussed because it seems to be possible to establish patterns of bioacoustic activity (e. g., temporal and spectral entropies). We also discussed the importance of continuing to monitor sound activity to evaluate the impact of roads on bioacoustic activity in tropical forests.

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Ramírez-Alán O. Retamosa Izaguirre M. y Colino Rabanal V. Road impact assessment on the soundscape of a Costa Rican rainforest using dominant frequencies. Infrastructure & Ecology Network Europe, 2018.

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Retrieved: 14 Nov 2025 20:29:12

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Resource type Text
Date of creation 2025-05-23
Date of last revision 2025-05-23
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Metadata identifier 0fd3e59c-e5aa-55dd-b5a8-d1c717b75eaf
Metadata language Spanish
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ISO 19115 topic category biota
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Name of the dataset creator Ramírez-Alán, O., Retamosa Izaguirre, M. y Colino Rabanal, V.
Name of the dataset editor Infrastructure & Ecology Network Europe
Other identifier ISBN: 978-91-639-8714-4
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