Soundscapes to Landscapes (S2L) is a scientific research project working to advance biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring. It is funded by NASA's Citizen Science for Earth's Systems Program.

Biodiversity refers to the variety of living organisms on Earth, how they relate to each other, their ecological function, and genetic diversity. All aspects of biodiversity are intimately linked to the functioning of ecosystems, where species interact with their physical environment. Biodiversity plays a vital role in many ecosystem functions, such as clean water, clean air, nutrient cycling, food production, and responses to disturbances, such as fires. We often cause changes in biodiversity that alter ecosystem resilience, functioning, and the very important services that sustain our lives.

Ecosystems provide humanity supporting (e.g., nutrient and water cycling), provisioning (e.g., food, fresh water, timber), regulating (e.g., climate control, crop pollination), and cultural (e.g., recreation, spiritual values) services. We depend on these ecosystem services for our well-being but often fail to give them economic value. We often cause changes in biodiversity that alter ecosystem resilience, functioning, and the very important services that sustain our lives.

  • Multispectral satellite imagery from a combination of Landsat and Sentinel-2 data.

In our application, CNN's were trained to recognize broad soundscape components (biophony, anthropophony, geophony, interference, and quiet), as well as vocalizations by individual bird species. We also explored acoustic indices, which are integrative measures of sound diversity within a recording that may be related to biodiversity.

Overview of analytical framework from acoustic recordings at sites to broader landscapes.

Publications

Quinn, C.A., Jantz, P., Salas, L., Goetz, S.,Clark, M. (2024). Soundscape mapping: understanding regional spatial and temporal patterns of soundscapes in the context of remotely-sensed predictors and wildfire disturbance. Environmental Research: Ecology.  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2752-664X/ad4bec/meta 

We thank the following agencies, insitutions and non-profits organizations for access to their property and collaboration: Pepperwood Foundation, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Audubon Canyon Ranch, Sonoma Land Trust, California State Parks, Sonoma Regional Parks, Conservation Fund , The Wildlands Conservancy, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Ecosystems provide humanity supporting (e.g., nutrient and water cycling), provisioning (e.g., food, fresh water, timber), regulating (e.g., climate control, crop pollination), and cultural (e.g., recreation, spiritual values) services. We depend on these ecosystem services for our well-being but often fail to give them economic value. We often cause changes in biodiversity that alter ecosystem resilience, functioning, and the very important services that sustain our lives.

Overview of analytical framework from acoustic recordings at sites to broader landscapes.