O quanto nosso balde está cheio de conhecimento sobre vocalizações de aves e de mamíferos sul-americanos no século XXI?

Abstract

Bioacoustics is a branch of Zoology that studies the acoustic communication of animals. This science is multidisciplinary as it relates to other areas of natural science and thus expands possibilities for new discoveries. Investigations that show the advances and possible gaps that may exist in the knowledge of vocalizations are still rare, especially in the tropics. In this research, we reviewed what was published in studies on vocalizations of South American birds and mammals available in the Scopus database between 1962 and 2020. We investigated the impact of the research on the number of articles published, in journals, more focused taxonomic groups, paper authors' affiliations and differences between countries scientific productivity. Studies on bird vocalizations over time have raised. There were taxonomic and geographic biases. Some groups and species are disproportionately more studied than others, such as Passeriformes, Cetartiodactyla and Chiropter. Strong economies had a higher density of publications. Areas such as Animal Behaviour and Bioacoustics were most studied in birds and mammals. We propose that, in the future, research efforts be redirected towards greater attention on species whose acoustic communication has little or no study and, mainly, those ones most endangered species. With these two reviews we hope to be able to contribute to reveal the panorama of what has been studied about vocalizations of South American birds and mammals and, in this way, serve as a guide to help and direct future research.