Speaker
Description
Natural areas play a central role in human well-being, particularly in Norway where national parks are widely used for recreation. Soundscapes are increasingly used to assess both biodiversity and human pressures, yet remain poorly documented in Nordic environments.We investigated soundscape patterns in two Norwegian national parks, Femundsmarka and Rondane, by combining ecoacoustic indices, automated species detection (BirdNET), expert validation, manual annotations, and an ISO 12313 survey of hikers. A 4-day study was first conducted using passive acoustic monitoring across three habitats (forest, water, tundra). Seven acoustic indices (ACI, ADI, AEI, BI, entropy, biophony, anthrophony) were computed to assess their ability to discriminate habitats and temporal dynamics. Monitoring was subsequently extended across summer and winter, enabling detailed annotation of biological and anthropogenic acoustic activity under contrasting diel regimes.Results during the summer showed that acoustic indices consistently discriminated tundra from forest and water soundscapes, while partial overlap between forest and water highlights limits in ecological specificity. Strong diel patterns driven by bird vocal activity were observed in Femundsmarka, whereas weaker temporal structuring occurred in Rondane. Notably, the anthropogenic index did not reflect annotated human activity, showing higher values at night despite daytime human presence. Results of the survey during the summer indicated that all habitats were generally perceived as pleasant, but soundscape quality decreased when anthropogenic sounds were heard.Overall, our study highlights both the potential and limitations of acoustic indices and underscores the importance of integrating automated metrics with ecological validation for robust soundscape monitoring in protected areas.