Many species depend on the natural soundscape to navigate, communicate, reproduce, and detect threats,” stated Mario Yánez, a researcher at Inabio, in a joint press release with Kara Solar, published this Monday. He added that “reducing the noise generated by combustion engines allows for the recovery of the natural acoustic conditions of rivers, which can favor the ecological processes that sustain Amazonian biodiversity”. Noise masks natural sounds The document emphasizes that the noise produced by gasoline engines can interfere with species that depend on sound for survival. These engines emit noise with a dominant frequency close to 2,900 hertz, a range that masks many of the acoustic signals used by birds and mammals to communicate. “The rivers tell us what is happening in the Amazon, if we know how to listen.” Scientists and members of indigenous communities are using a new scientific metric, the Acoustic River Index (ARI), in the Achuar territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon to measure how the transition from combustion engines to solar boats is reducing acoustic pollution. As solar-powered vessels progressively replace combustion engines on the waterways of the Amazon rainforest, the noise that has dominated these ecosystems for decades is beginning to decrease. To measure this change, scientists are using the new metric to monitor levels of acoustic pollution in rivers and assess its impact on biodiversity. The initial results suggest that solar vessels produce an acoustic disturbance on average five times lower than conventional gasoline combustion engines. The initiative is led by Kara Solar, in alliance with the National Biodiversity Institute (Inabio). “Sound is part of the ecological structure of Amazonian ecosystems. We are explaining to the elders that although technology has caused a lot of destruction here, we are now using it as a tool to understand the problems in the territory and how to repair them,” said Angel Wasump, Kara Solar's Territorial Coordinator and a member of the Achuar community of Wayusentsa. Through the ARI, the soundscapes of the rivers are transformed into data that allows scientists to record how the transition to clean technologies can generate measurable environmental improvements in one of the planet's most biodiverse ecosystems. Researchers believe this approach could redefine how the health of Amazonian rivers is monitored and strengthen conservation strategies in the region.
