Integration of passive acoustic monitoring data into OBIS-SEAMAP, a global biogeographic database, to advance spatially-explicit ecological assessments

•We integrated passive acoustic monitoring data into a global biogeographic database.•We developed novel mapping and visualization tools for PAM data.•The integration fills spatial and temporal data gaps.•The integration advances spatio-temporal ecological assessments.•Our efforts will facilitate global conservation efforts.

We successfully developed an extension of the OBIS-SEAMAP database, a global biogeographic database specializing in marine mammals, seabirds and sea turtles, to integrate passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) data with other commonly collected data types (i.e. line-transect visual sightings, animal telemetry, and photo-identification). As part of this effort, we made significant improvements in mapping and visualization tools for PAM data, including spatially and temporally interactive summary statistics, diel plots, temporal effort representation, and the unique rendering of PAM data to distinguish them from other data types. In this paper, we summarize technical challenges we overcame, report the methodologies and implementation of the integration, and conduct case studies using visual sightings and PAM data from bowhead whales and Risso's dolphins to demonstrate how the integrated database facilitates in-depth ecological assessments that form the foundation for spatially-explicit conservation efforts.