Data from: Marine soundscape shaped by fishing activity

Marine communities face anthropogenic pressures that degrade ecosystems. Because underwater soundscapes carry information about habitat quality, we explored whether destructive impacts of fishing could be evaluated via the soundscape. Maerl beds are recognized as biodiversity hotspots and they experience major worldwide degradation owing to fishing. We collected field acoustic recordings in maerl beds exposed to different fishing practices. We found that unfished maerl beds were threefold louder and exhibited sound frequencies more diversified than those recorded in fished maerl beds. Analyses of associated fauna samples indicated that snapping shrimps provided a major contribution to the maerl bed soundscape. Moreover, sea urchins and squat lobsters most likely contributed to differences between the soundscapes of unfished and fished maerl beds. Our results supported the idea that the soundscape can provide valuable information on maerl bed ecosystem health related to fishing activity.海洋生态群落正面临破坏生态系统的人为活动胁迫。由于水下声景（underwater soundscape）携带着栖息地质量的相关信息，本研究探究了能否通过该声景评估捕捞活动所带来的破坏性影响。玛尔藻床（maerl beds）被公认为生物多样性热点区域，且因捕捞活动在全球范围内遭受严重退化。我们在受不同捕捞作业影响的玛尔藻床中采集了野外声学录音数据。研究发现，未受捕捞的玛尔藻床的声强可达受捕捞区域的三倍，且其声频多样性更为丰富。对相关伴生动物群落样本的分析表明，鼓虾是玛尔藻床声景的主要贡献声源。此外，海胆与铠甲虾极有可能是造成未捕捞与受捕捞玛尔藻床声景差异的关键类群。本研究结果证实，水下声景能够为评估与捕捞活动相关的玛尔藻床生态系统健康状况提供宝贵的参考信息。