Data from: Listening to tropical forest soils

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has proven to be an effective tool for
monitoring biotic soundscapes in the marine, terrestrial, and aquatic
realms. Recently it has been suggested that it could also be an effective
method for monitoring soil fauna, but has so far been used in only four
studies in temperate and polar regions. We present the first study of soil
soundscapes in tropical forests, using a novel analytical pipeline
allowing for the use of in-situ recording of soundscapes with minimal soil
disturbance. We found significant differences in soil soundscapes between
burnt and unburnt forests and the first indications of a diel cycle in
soil soundscapes. These promising results and methodological advances
highlight the potential of PAM for large-scale and long-term monitoring of
soil biodiversity. We use the results to discuss research priorities,
including relating soil biophony to biodiversity, community structure and
ecosystem functioning, and the use of appropriate hardware and analytical
techniques.