A dataset for benchmarking Neotropical anuran calls identification in passive acoustic monitoring.

Global change is predicted to induce shifts in anuran acoustic behavior, which can be studied through passive acoustic monitoring (PAM). Understanding changes in calling behavior requires automatic identification of anuran species, which is challenging due to the particular characteristics of neotropical soundscapes. In this paper, we introduce a large-scale multi-species dataset of anuran amphibians calls recorded by PAM, that comprises 27 hours of expert annotations for 42 different species from two Brazilian biomes. We provide open access to the dataset, including the raw recordings, experimental setup code, and a benchmark with a baseline model of the fine-grained categorization problem. Additionally, we highlight the challenges of the dataset to encourage machine learning researchers to solve the problem of anuran call identification towards conservation policy. All our experiments and resources have been made available at https://soundclim.github.io/anuraweb/ .

Evaluating the impacts of Payment for Ecosystem Services (water supplies) in an agricultural system of the Brazilian Cerrado.

In this study, we investigated the effects of the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in an agrisystem located in the Brazilian Midwest. This PES benefits the owners of rural properties that encompass springs that feed the Abóbora River microbasin which supplies water for consumption in the city of Rio Verde, Goiás. We evaluated the percentage of native vegetation cover around the springs of the watercourses and also estimated its change over time (2005, 2011 and 2017). The vegetation cover of the Areas of Permanent Preservation (APP) increased by 2.24% on average, seven years after the implantation of the PES. There was little difference in the change of vegetation cover maintained over the study years (2005, 2011, and 2017), however, the vegetation cover increased for 17 springs, decreased for 11 springs, and was completely degraded for other two. To improve the performance of this PES, we recommend (1) expanding the program to include the APPs surrounding the springs, together with the legal reserves of each property, (2) implementing measures to ensure that properties are environmentally adequate, (3) including the properties in the Brazilian Rural Environment Register (CAR), and (4) obtaining environmental licensing for the activities undertaken within the Abóbora River basin.

Evaluation of the genotoxic, mutagenic, and histopathological hepatic effects of polyoxyethylene amine (POEA) and glyphosate on Dendropsophus minutus tadpoles.

Herbicides improve the productivity of a monoculture by eliminating weeds, although they may also be toxic and have negative effects on non-target organisms, such as amphibians. The present study evaluated the genotoxic, mutagenic, and histopathological hepatic responses of Dendropsophus minutus tadpoles to acute exposure (96 h) to the herbicide glyphosate (GLY, 65, 130, 260 and 520 µg/L) and the surfactant polyoxyethylene amine (POEA, 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10 µg/L). On average, 174 % more genomic damage was observed in the tadpoles exposed to all concentrations of POEA in comparison with the control, while up to seven times more micronuclei were recorded, on average, at a concentration of 5 µg/L of POEA. All the individuals exposed to 10 µg/L of POEA died. The tadpoles exposed to GLY presented 165 % more DNA damage than the control, on average, at the highest concentrations (260 and 520 µg/L), and up to six times more micronuclei at 520 µg/L. The Erythrocyte Nuclear Abnormality test (ENA) detected a relatively high frequency of cells with lobed nuclei in the tadpoles expose to POEA at 5 µg/L and binucleated cells in those exposed to GLY at 520 µg/L. The hepatic histopathological observations revealed several types of lesions in the tadpoles exposed to both GLY and POEA. Overall, then, the results of the study indicate that both GLY and POEA have potential genotoxic, mutagenic, and hepatotoxic effects in D. minutus tadpoles. We emphasize the need for further studies to monitor the amphibian populations, such as those of D. minutus, which breed in aquatic environments associated with agricultural areas. The release of pollutants into natural habitats may have significant long-term impacts on the survival of anuran tadpoles.