Ecological niche modeling and passive acoustic monitoring of three endemic and important species for the conservation of Atlantic Forest biodiversity

• Grant number: 23/10830-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Luis Felipe de Toledo Ramos Pereira
• Grantee: João Pedro Bovolon Thomaz
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/11096-8 - From the natural history to the conservation of Brazilian amphibinas, AP.TEM

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest ecoregion has a great amphibian biodiversity, most of which are endemic to the region. This diversity has been threatened due to the direct impacts of the anthropization of these environments, the spread of diseases, in addition to the effects of climate change. To understand the extent of these impacts, it is important to know the spatial distribution and population trends of the species, however, this is a difficult task for rare species or those that are difficult to locate in the field. In the case of species with these characteristics, ecological niche modeling can help in the search for new populations in areas that have not yet been explored. However, finding them is still an arduous task, so in these situations passive acoustic monitoring is a technique that has proven to be effective, as it can collect large amounts of data over a long period and requires little field effort. Therefore, to screen this large database it is possible to use image detection algorithms focused on bioacoustics, which learn to identify the morphotype of the species' song generated by the spectrogram and, after training and validation, it is possible to locate these vocalizations in extensive databases, quickly and accurately. Therefore, in this project we will look for new areas of occurrence, we will understand which climatic variables are important for the distribution of species and how climate change could affect them in the future. We will also observe the temporal dynamics of the species' vocal activity and the differences between population densities in the sampled locations.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BOVOLON, JOAO PEDRO; ARANHA, NATALIA; TAUCCI, PEDRO P. G.; NUNES-DE-ALMEIDA, CARLOS HENRIQUE L.; TOLEDO, LUIS FELIPE. A new population of the threatened torrent-frog Hylodes sazimai and other possible suitable sites based on ecological niche modeling. JOURNAL FOR NATURE CONSERVATION, v. 86, p. 8-pg., 2025-08-01. (23/10830-2, 22/11096-8, 23/11870-8)