Effects of noise pollution in the community of bats in the city of Greensboro, North Carolina, United States of America

• Grant number: 13/11375-5
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Effective date (Start): January 10, 2014
• Effective date (End): June 09, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal researcher: Wagner André Pedro
• Grantee: Urubatan Moura Skerratt Suckow
• Supervisor abroad: Matina Carmen Kalcounis-Rueppell
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil
• Research place: University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/12348-9 - Bats in the use of a fragmented landscape of Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil, BP.MS

Abstract

Bats are able to live in large urban centers, exploiting resources such as insects and shelters available in the landscape. Not all species can actually survive in that environment. Different factors may determine, directly or indirectly, the composition of bats (richness and abundance) and rates of activity (frequency of use) in various habitats that make up the urban landscape, including the levels of noise pollution. The audible noise of wide frequency range are released daily in cities (eg heavy traffic of vehicles on streets and avenues). Whereas bats, in general, comprise the environment and capture their food with the aid of echolocation is expected that the excess noise, at some instant, interfere in the process of capturing and interpretation of sound waves by individuals. Accordingly, experiments verified that the excess noise actually disrupts the perception of certain species of bats, masking the sounds that are emitted by prey. In some cases, species are able to adapt their vocalizations to high levels of noise in the environment. For this, they begin to make sounds more intense and high frequency in order to detach them from those that are unwanted noise. This leads to a higher energy expenditure by the individual, which can harm you. In the case of species that cannot adapt to the presence of noise, studies suggest that they start to use the large forest fragments located within cities, or migrate to regions peri urban. The fact is that there are few data interpreting the effects of noise pollution in communities of bats (almost nothing for the Neotropical region). Much of these are obtained information to a few species of bats in captivity. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the effects of noise pollution (areas with high and low levels of noise) in a community of urban bats, noting differences: a) the richness of bats; b) the vocalization patterns of different species (intensity , frequency range and intervals between winches); and c) the intensity of use of sample plots (number of passes and length of stay). (AU)