Observing wildlife in those dark, dense forests filled with insects and thorny palm trees is a challenge. This is due to the very nature of biodiversity in the Amazon, where there are a small number of abundant species and a greater number of rare species that are difficult to identify properly.
Understanding which species are provided and how they relate to their environment is of basic importance for ecology and conservation, as it offers us essential data on the effects of man-made disturbances, such as climate change, logging or burning wood. In turn, it can also allow us to resume sustainable human activities such as selective logging, the practice of one or two trees and leave the rest intact.
As part of BNP’s Bioclimate project, we are deploying a diversity of technological responses, such as camera traps and passive acoustic monitors, to overcome those obstacles and refine our understanding of Amazonian wildlife. These devices surpass classic surveys thanks to their ability to frequently collect knowledge without human intervention, allowing animals to pass by undisturbed.
Look at the trees
Camera traps are small devices that are activated through changes in activity in their vicinity, such as the movements of animals. They have been instrumental in our fieldwork in the Tapajós National Forest in Pará, northwestern Brazil, allowing us to determine whether disturbances such as climate change have affected the presence. and habit of animals which are in turn mandatory for herbal processes.
The dispersal of seeds through animals, which allows the regeneration of the forest, is one such process. When eating fruits or using nuts, they will excrete or drop the seeds elsewhere. Our studies have shown that at least 85% of all tree species in our plots have their seeds dispersed through animals.
We also know that many of those animals are strongly affected by disturbances. To better perceive the effect of the loss of those species that disperse seeds, we want to know which ones propagate which plants and how far.
We tried to see this by installing cameras at the foot of the fruit trees on our site, revealing which species ate which culmination and thus transported seeds through the forest.
The research resulted in more than 30,000 hours and we found that 5,459 videos contained animals. An impressive total of 152 species of birds and mammals were recorded, adding rare records of endangered species such as the vulture parrot (Pyrilia vulturina).
The videos included data on animal behavior, such as an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) hunting a not-so-unusual opossum (Didelphis marsupialis), a giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) with a baby on its back, and even a curious capuchin monkey (Sapajus apella). ) who checked a camera and ended up throwing it to the ground.
Importantly, we also recorded 48 frugivorous species, adding vital seed disperser species, such as the South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), which is able to disperse giant seeds over longer distances due to its size.
Our studies have shown that bird species such as the white-crested turkey (Penelope pileata) and mammals such as the silver marmoset (Mico argentatus) and the Amazon brown dagger deer (Mazama nemorivaga) are common fruit eaters. overexploited in the area, which can lead to cascading effects on forest regeneration.
exciting forests
Acoustic recorders, on the other hand, are a must for compiling inventories of the species-rich bird community. In fact, birds are rarely noticed in the dense forest, their vocalizations reveal their presence.
When ornithologists examine tropical birds, they are limited by how they can perform counts, as it is logistically complicated to return to individual locations. Therefore, classical censuses have a fairly long duration, between five and 15 minutes, with only a limited number. of repeated counts at each site studied. This means that only a small component of the era during which birds are maximally active can be studied, the two hours after dawn, sometimes known as the dawn chorus.
However, all birds sing at the same time: some species prefer to sing very early in the morning, at most wait until it is a little warmer and the sun is completely high, and some others get up late. few censuses, it is complicated to cover the entire era and stumble upon all the species present. In addition, censuses conducted only for a few days mean that points such as weather or the presence of predators on certain days can absolutely replace species. stumble one.
Our studies found that by setting up standalone acoustic recorders to take 240 very short 15-second recordings totaling an hour of research, we can record 50% more species at each site we studied compared to 4 15-minute surveys that reproduced the duration of human activity. Subsequent investigations allowed us to extend our era of inquiry for several days, but especially throughout the dawn chorus. We found that there was a small organization of species that liked to sing from 15 minutes before dawn to 15 minutes later, and we were only really, most likely we would run into them if we had several records during that time, which is only imaginable with automatic recorders.
These more comprehensive studies allow us to provide broader estimates of the species that live in these hyperdiverse regions, but also of those that disappear when forests are exploited or burned. Using this method, we stumbled upon 224 bird species at 29 sites with a total of one hour survey at each site.
Species discovered in intact and disturbed forests have also shown our previous studies that have shown that undisturbed number one forests are home to exclusive bird communities that disappear when forests are broken through selective logging or wildfires.
Acoustic recorders have also allowed us to accumulate knowledge over long periods of time, with over 10,000 hours recorded to date.
However, collecting knowledge at this scale also means that it is not feasible for a scientist to pay attention to all recordings. Instead, the new ecoacoustic box has developed statistical techniques to characterize complete soundscapes. These acoustic indices measure the variation in amplitude and frequency to give a measure of the intensity or variety of the soundscape. By eliminating the need to identify individual sounds, they can successfully process large volumes of acoustic data.
We use acoustic signals to show that undisturbed number one forests have unique soundscapes that can be known with device learning techniques. This knowledge, in turn, makes it possible to contrast soundscapes disturbed by phenomena such as fires or logging and distinguish the equipment of species most affected. .
To conclude, camera traps and acoustic recorders allow us to have eyes and ears in the forest even when our researchers are not there. As the generation develops, we will continue to use the latest techniques to better perceive the habit and ecology of animals, and how to take advantage of them at a higher price and the habitats in which they live.
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