Impactos de parques eólicos em comunidades de anuros na Caatinga, Nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

Human activities are known to be responsible for the decline of biodiversity. Recently, the implementation of wind farms has contributed to the worsening of environmental problems and little is known about the effects of noise pollution generated by wind turbines in the Caatinga. Therefore, this dissertation aims to analyze the impact of noise from wind farms in anuran communities in Caatinga, Northeast Brazil. A search gave rise to two manuscripts. In the first, entitled “Impacts of wind farms on the diversity of anurans in a seasonally dry tropical forest, Northeastern Brazil”, the effects of noise from wind farms, rainfall and weather on anuran diversity patterns were evaluated. Our results revealed that the noise did not present a significant negative relationship in the structure of the communities, on the other hand, the rainfall over time strongly influenced the patterns of abundance and richness and diversity of frogs. And in the second, entitled “Effects of noise from wind farms on the behavior of anuran calling in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil”, the effects of noise from wind farms on the calling behavior of three species of anurans were analyzed. Our results showed that the noise from wind farms affected the calling behavior of the three species and the frequency amplitude, dominant frequency and call amplitude decreased significantly with increased noise. This work is a pioneer in analyzing the impacts of wind turbine noise on anuran communities in Brazil. Future studies with anurans and other animals dependent on acoustic communication will help in understanding the impacts of wind energy in the Caatinga and other terrestrial environments. Thus, knowledge of the effects of noise from wind farms can be an important tool for ecological, behavioral studies and conservationist actions.