Dataset on audio records of animals from the northeast Andes of Colombia II: The vertebrate sounds of Santander department

Abstract

Colombia holds one of the most spectacular biodiversity of the world. Yet, vast aspects of this biodiversity are still poorly inventoried. One of the least known aspects of Colombia's biodiversity is the sound produced by its animals, even for the most conspicuous ones, the vertebrates. Here we reviewed and compiled the sound records available for the Department of Santander, a region in the North-East of Colombia, gathering the sound records of birds, anurans, mammals, and fishes. By conducting a detailed review in the environmental sound collection of the Humboldt Institute, the Macaulay Library of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Xeno-canto platform of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, we present the first dataset of vertebrate sounds information from the Santander department. We selected recordings with a taxonomic resolution up to species and complete metadata information. Using latitude and longitude information, we assigned each recording to one of the six biotic units reported for Santander. We found a total of 1499 recordings, which belong to six biotic units: Guane-Yariguíes (597), Middle Magdalena Valley and Mompox Depression (484), High Andes Eastern Cordillera (167), Nechí-San Lucas (150), Middle Magdalena Eastern Cordillera (95), Catatumbo (6). This dataset can have a wide scope of applications, from basic scientific questions, to analyses made by decision makers regarding conservation strategies, to support biodiversity-based economies such as ecotourism. Keywords: Colombia, Natural history audio archives, Sound recordings, Sound collection