Abstract The Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) for oil spills was developed to assist coordinators to evaluate oil spill impact along shorelines and also to coordinate the allocation of resources during and after the incident, aiming to reduce environmental damage and consequences. Recently, Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS) are being used in a wide range of areas, since they complement traditional remote sensing data (e.g., satellite images) and offer a rapidly, precise, detail and high-resolution images that fit well for environmental studies. Herein, the use of high-resolution RPAS images for ESI analysis of rocky shores in the Brazilian territory was performed. Using RPAS images, with their higher-resolution compared with ArcGIS Pro Basemap satellite images, increased the detailed of ESI analysis for oil spills, increasing the number of regions in the rocky shore that are more sensitive to oil spills. The RPAS images were able to decrease the number of areas that were less sensitive to oil spills, and increase areas that are more sensitive to oil spills. This increase is important, since they were not detected in the ESI analysis using conventional ArcGIS Pro Basemap satellite images. The RPAS images permit to delineate precisely rocky shores, improving ESI interpretation in rocky shores.

Resumo O monitoramento acústico passivo pode ajudar nos esforços para conservação e elucidar o comportamento e ecologia de espécies evasivas noturno-crepusculares, como o lobo-guará. Aqui nós caracterizamos os padrões sazonais, lunares e nictemerais nas vocalizações de longo alcance (aulidos) de lobos-guará de vida livre no Parque Nacional da Serra da Canastra (Brasil) através de oito meses de gravações ao longo de dois anos com uma rede de 12/13 gravadores autônomos. Nós descobrimos um aumento na atividade vocal coincidindo com a estação de acasalamento e o período em torno do parto. Esses picos indicam que os aulidos têm um papel na atração e guarda de parceiros e na comunicação intra grupo familiar. Houve atividade vocal durante todo o período amostral e mais em alguns locais do que em outros, sugerindo que aulidos também funcionam para anúncio e defesa territorial. Lobos-guará vocalizam mais na Lua crescente gibosa e depois do anoitecer até meia-noite. A luz da Lua provavelmente reduz o tempo de forrageio, resultando em mais tempo disponível para comunicação acústica, enquanto vocalizações logo no início da atividade sugerem uma função de anúncio territorial. Vocalizações de grupo nem sempre seguiram o padrão geral de atividade vocal, sugerindo que eventos sociais requerem: resposta imediata, como disputas territoriais; e/ou localização simultânea dos animais, como para guarda de parceiro e defesa territorial conjunta. Baseado nos padrões espaciais, nós estimamos que entre 6 e 11 animais contribuíram para as gravações.

Abstract Passive acoustic monitoring can aid conservation efforts and elucidate the behavior and ecology of nocturnal/crepuscular secretive species, like the maned wolf. Here we characterize the seasonal, lunar, and nightly patterns in the long-range vocalizations (roar-barks) of free ranging maned wolves at Serra da Canastra National Park (Brazil) throughout eight months of recordings over two years with a grid of 12/13 autonomous recorders. We found an increase in vocal activity coinciding with the mating and the circa-parturition period of the species. Those peaks indicate a role of roar-barks in partner attraction and mate guarding, and in intra-familiar-group communication. Vocal activity happened throughout all recorded periods and was much higher at some sites than at others, suggesting that roar-barks also function to announce territorial ownership and defense. Maned wolves vocalize more around the waxing gibbous lunar phase, and after dusk until mid-night. Moonlight likely reduces foraging time, resulting in more time available to communicate acoustically, while vocalizations early on the onset of activity suggest a territorial announcement function. Group vocalizations did not always follow the general vocal activity pattern, which suggests that social events may require: immediate response, as territorial contests; and/or simultaneous location of animals, as mate guarding, and joint territorial defense. Based on spatial patterns, we estimate between 6 and 11 individuals contributed to the recordings.

Introduction: The Cerrado is characterized by a mosaic of habitats ranging from open grasslands to dense arboreal savannas and woodlands, with gallery forests along watercourses. Extensive areas of Cerrado have been gradually deforested in the last 50 years, currently only 20% of the biome still retains its original vegetation, and only 2.5% is preserved as permanent protected areas. Scientific knowledge of the Cerrado fauna, such as composition, natural history, and geographic distribution of its species is very important to conservation strategies. Nevertheless, most of the Cerrado still remains poorly sampled and studied. Although an increasing number of works have been published for Cerrado nonvolant small mammals in recent years, there are few studies dealing with biogeographic patterns for the biome. The objective of this study was to investigate the diversity of nonvolant small mammals and to determine the habitat use of the species encountered at Emas National Park - ENP, one of the most important reserves of the Cerrado biome, located in a region yet poorly known. Methodology: We sampled 28 different areas representing seven habitat types found in the ENP. Small mammals were surveyed during rainy and dry seasons with live and pitfall traps. The total effort was 10,664 trap-nights for live and 2,898 trap-nights for pitfall traps. The data analysis consisted of rarefaction curves, estimates of species richness, data on relative abundance, diversity and evenness indexes, as well as the faunal composition in each habitat type and in ENP in order to observe how the assemblage is characterized and distributed in the landscape to better understand the biogeography of this southwestern region in the Cerrado. Results: We recorded 23 species of marsupials and small rodents in ENP. The grass mouse Necromys lasiurus was the most abundant, with the majority of species being rare. More species and individuals were encountered during the rainy season, with gallery forests and arboreal dense savannas representing the richest habitats. The assemblage was composed by two species groups: one inhabiting the forests and the other the open areas. Species composition overlaps with those of adjacent biomes and other Cerrado regions, but we found endemic and southwestern restricted species, characterizing an assemblage most similar to the Pantanal and Chaco biomes. Discussion and conclusions: Previous studies in the Cerrado have shown a higher richness and abundance during the dry season. Our results could be explained by the higher abundance (reproduction period) and activity (abundance of resources) during the rainy season. The habitat selectivity results showed the great importance of canopy and humidity on the distribution of small mammals, with gallery forest being not the richest habitat in the region. The high richness also found in the savannas, although less stratified vertically, may be a result of horizontal heterogeneity. Other biomes adjoin the Cerrado and influence its faunal composition; compared to the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest, the fauna of the present study showed greater similarity with the Amazon, contrary to prior studies. This pattern is mainly related to the presence of four taxa that occur in both the Amazon and Cerrado, but are replaced by sister groups in the Atlantic Rainforest. This study highlights the importance of this protected area, as it harbors a high richness of nonvolant small mammals, including endemic species and also species with restricted distributional ranges within the Cerrado, together with a unique faunal composition, characteristic of the southwestern portion of this biome.

El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar la diversidad de pequeños mamíferos no voladores y determinar su uso de hábitat en el Parque Nacional Emas - PNE, una de las reservas más importantes del bioma Cerrado, ubicado en una región aún poco conocida. Registramos la presencia de 23 especies de marsupiales y pequeños roedores en el PNE, 20 de las cuales fueron encontradas en siete tipos distintos de hábitats mediante el uso de trampas de caída (2,898 noches-trampa, 9 especies) y trampas de captura viva (10,664 noches-trampa, 18 especies). En general, fueron encontradas más especies durante la época lluviosa (20) que durante la época seca (12). El hábitat analices mostró claramente un ensamblaje compuesto por especies habitando diferentes tipos de hábitat, obteniéndose dos agrupamientos principales: bosques y áreas abiertas; pocas especies fueran observadas en ambos tipos de hábitat, fisonómicamente diferentes. Desde el punto de vista biogeográfico, la composición de especies registrada en el PNE se superpone con la de los biomas adyacentes cuando se consideran las especies generalistas y con amplia distribución. Sin embargo, encontramos cuatro especies endémicas del Cerrado, tres de ellas exclusivas de las formaciones abiertas del parque. La mayor similitud en cuanto a composición se dio con la fauna del Pantanal, seguida por la del Chaco, la de la Caatinga y la del Amazonas. El presente estudio resalta la importancia de esta área protegida, dado que contiene una alta riqueza de pequeños mamíferos no voladores, incluyendo tanto especies endémicas como especies con distribuciones restringidas dentro del Cerrado y por su composición faunística única característica de la porción sudoeste de este bioma.