Theory 16/Ecosystem function/Passive acoustic monitoring
Function Is Audible
The claim
The functional integrity of a habitat is set by the ratio of acoustic diversity to acoustic evenness, so a degraded site can be as loud as an intact one but not as structured.
01Mechanism
Intact communities produce overlapping signals across frequencies and times; degradation homogenises the soundscape.
02Prediction
Acoustic structure should track measured biodiversity.
03Refutation
Acoustic structure uncorrelated with independent biodiversity measures would remove the proxy.
04What makes it checkable
Autonomous recorders now provide continuous, year-round audio at sites where human observers could visit only occasionally.
05Why it was not testable before
Recording was once an expedition; it is now a box on a tree.