Effective acoustical monitoring tools for Mannophryne lamarcai

We performed the field-work during the dry (March 2014) and reainy season (May and June 2014) at the species type locality: Cerro Socopó, located at central-west region between Falcón, Lara and Zulia states, Venezuela. Socopó is a small and isolated mountain (1.571 m) belonging to the Ziruma mountains, and represents a relict of tropical mountain forest surrounded by semi-arid vegetation and grassland. This area is home to 312 species of vertebrates, including endangered and endemic amphibians species like Mannophryne lamarcai, Leptodactylus magistris and Dendropsophus amicorum. These forest and species are severely threatened by cattle ranch and illegal timber extraction, with forest formations only above 1000 meters. Despite this, no legal protected figure has been established in the area. We identified a 2.5 km secondary road transect within the study area based on the following criteria: 1) it cover different habitat types (streams and lagoons); and 2) it within the altitudinal gradient described for the specie (1,040 to 1,363 m). We identified three sampling points throughout the transect located in the vicinity of wetland habits: socopo1, socopo2 and socopo4. We did two types of recordings: 1) high quality recordings to characterize the advertisement call for M. lamarcai, non described to date (socopo4), and 2) recordings in different sampling points to evaluate call detectors performance in different acoustic scenarios (in all three localities).

Archive of the PASATA (PASsive Acoustic Tracking of Antarctic marine mammals) field documentation

Recordings from the PerenniAL Acoustic Observatory in the Antarctic ocean (PALAOA) show seasonal acoustic presence of 4 Antarctic ice-breeding seal species (Ross seal, Ommatophoca rossii, Weddell seal, Leptonychotes weddellii, crabeater, Lobodon carcinophaga, and leopard seal, Hydrurga leptonyx). Apart from Weddell seals, inhabiting the fast-ice in Atka Bay, the other three (pack-ice) species however have to date never (Ross and leopard seal) or only very rarely (crabeater seals) been sighted in the Atka Bay region. The aim of the PASATA project is twofold: the large passive acoustic hydrophone array (hereafter referred to as large array) aims to localize calling pack-ice pinniped species to obtain information on their location and hence the ice habitat they occupy. This large array consists of four autonomous passive acoustic recorders with a hydrophone sensor deployed through a drilled hole in the sea ice. The PASATA recordings are time-stamped and can therefore be coupled to the PALAOA recordings so that the hydrophone array spans the bay almost entirely from east to west. The second, smaller hydrophone array (hereafter referred to as small array), also consists of four autonomous passive acoustic recorders with hydrophone sensors deployed through drilled holes in the sea ice. The smaller array was deployed within a Weddell seal breeding colony, located further south in the bay, just off the ice shelf. Male Weddell seals are thought to defend underwater territories around or near tide cracks and breathing holes used by females. Vocal activity increases strongly during the breeding season and vocalizations are thought to be used underwater by males for the purpose of territorial defense and advertisement. With the smaller hydrophone array we aim to investigate underwater behaviour of vocalizing male and female Weddell seals to provide further information on underwater movement patterns in relation to the location of tide cracks and breathing holes. As a pilot project, one on-ice and three underwater camera systems have been deployed near breathing holes to obtain additional visual information on Weddell seal behavioural activity. Upon each visit in the breeding colony, a census of colony composition on the ice (number of animals, sex, presence of dependent pups, presence and severity of injuries-indicative of competition intensity) as well as GPS readings of breathing holes and positions of hauled out Weddell seals are taken.