Hums in the humus: opportunities and challenges for soil ecoacousticsCentre for Conservation Science, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, SA, Bedford Park, Australia.
Department of Applied Ecology, Hochschule Geisenheim University, Von-Lade-Str. 1, Geisenheim, Germany.
Forest Entomology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, SA, Bedford Park, Australia; The Aerobiome Innovation and Research Hub, Flinders University, SA, Bedford Park, Australia.
CSIRO Environment, QLD, Dutton Park, Australia.
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom; Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Umeå University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences.
State Key Laboratory of Regional and Urban Ecology, Ningbo Observation and Research Station, Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, SA, Bedford Park, Australia; The Aerobiome Innovation and Research Hub, Flinders University, SA, Bedford Park, Australia.
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2026 (English)In: Trends in Ecology & Evolution, ISSN 0169-5347, E-ISSN 1872-8383Article, review/survey (Refereed) In press
Abstract [en]
Soil ecoacoustics is an emerging field and suite of tools that use sound and vibration to detect belowground biological activity. It offers a minimally invasive way to assess soil communities and ecosystem processes. Across biomes, we found that soil ecoacoustics is being used to detect organisms, quantify animal behaviour, monitor soil health, and assess restoration interventions. In this review, we show that ecoacoustic metrics reflect changes in soil fauna activity, disturbance impacts, and recovery trajectories. However, major challenges remain, including inconsistent terminology, limited understanding of sound propagation across soil types, difficulty separating biotic from abiotic signals, and a lack of standardised methods. Thus, we propose foundational standard operating procedures (SOPs) and identify how soil ecoacoustics could be integrated into global biodiversity monitoring frameworks.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Cell Press, 2026.
Keywords [en]
bioacoustics, biotremology, ecoacoustics, soil ecoacoustics
National Category
Ecology Soil Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-249472DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2025.12.007PubMedID: 41535169Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105028386729OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-249472DiVA, id: diva2:2035820
2026-02-052026-02-052026-02-05