Supplementary information for: ECOACOUSTICS IN DEVELOPMENT: FROM THEORETICAL CHALLENGES TO INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORKS

Abstract: Ecoacoustics has emerged as a promising discipline to assess ecosystem health and inform conservation through the study of environmental sound. Yet, as a field still in development, it must not only refine its experimental approaches but also consolidate a shared theoretical foundation. Drawing lessons from landscape ecology, which has struggled with terminological ambiguity, theoretical fragmentation, and reductionist tendencies, we argue that ecoacoustics faces similar risks if these issues are not addressed early. Using bibliometric analyses and conceptual synthesis, we identify the main challenges that threaten the discipline’s theoretical coherence, including semantic and reference ambiguities in terminology, reliance on case studies, and metric proliferation. We then reflect on potential strategies to prevent their consolidation, highlighting the ecoscape as a framework particularly suited to address the challenge of complexity by linking spatial and sensory dimensions into a coherent hierarchy. While not a universal solution, the ecoscape contributes to theoretical integration, helping clarify study objects and guide hypothesis formulation. We also conclude that consolidating precise terminology, strengthening conceptual integration, and avoiding premature generalizations are key steps for ecoacoustics to advance as a predictive, hypothesis-driven science capable of contributing cumulative knowledge to ecology and conservation practice. In this dataset you can find the codes and searches to replicate performed analyses.摘要： 生态声学（Ecoacoustics）是一门通过研究环境声音来评估生态系统健康状况、为生态保护工作提供决策支撑的新兴前沿学科，目前已得到广泛关注。然而，作为一门尚处于发展阶段的学科，生态声学不仅需要优化实验研究方法，还需构建统一共享的理论基础。借鉴曾深陷术语歧义、理论碎片化与还原论倾向困境的景观生态学（landscape ecology）的经验教训，我们认为，若未能及早应对这些问题，生态声学也将面临类似的发展风险。本研究通过文献计量分析与概念综合方法，明确了威胁该学科理论连贯性的核心挑战，包括术语的语义与指称歧义、过度依赖案例研究以及指标泛滥等问题。随后，我们反思了可阻止这些问题固化的潜在应对策略，重点提出生态景域（ecoscape）作为适配框架，能够通过将空间维度与感官维度整合为连贯的层级体系，有效破解复杂性难题。尽管并非普适性解决方案，但生态景域有助于推动理论整合，助力明确研究对象并指导假说构建。本研究同时得出结论：统一精准术语、强化概念整合以及避免过早泛化，是推动生态声学发展为可预测、以假说为驱动的科学的关键步骤，此类科学能够为生态学与保护实践积累可传承的知识贡献力量。 本数据集收录了可复现本研究所有分析流程的代码与检索策略。