Figure 1. Male individual of Phyllodytes luteolus
(Wied-Neuwied, 1821) on the leaves of the bromeliad Aechmea
blanchetiana. Vila do Acuípe, municipality of Ilhéus, state of Bahia,
Brazil. Photo: João Victor A. Lacerda.
Field activities were carried out during the month of October 2021 at
five sampling sites in the municipality of Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil. All
areas have bromeliads used as reproductive sites by Phyllodytes
luteolus . Three sites with the presence of vehicle traffic noise were
located next to the BA-001 highway (between 3 and 10 meters away from
the highway), in the stretches between Olivença and Acuípe villages, in
the municipality of Ilhéus. The BA-001 highway runs along the coast of
the state of Bahia and its southern end begins in the city of Mucuri
while the northern end is located on Itaparica Island, in the
Todos-os-Santos Bay of the capital Salvador. The stretch of road on
which it was selected based on the presence of individuals of P.
luteolus , at night periods the frequency of vehicles decreased markedly
when compared to daytime periods, but there was the presence of vehicles
in passages. There is no data available from government agencies
regarding the flow of vehicles on this stretch of the highway, but
during our field activities we found that the greatest traffic occurs
between 5 and 7 pm. Two other sampling sites without the presence of
vehicle traffic noise were defined at a minimum distance of two
kilometers from the BA-001 highway (Carr & Fahrig, 2001) (Figure 2),
where in these environments, as a form of control, there was no other
source of anthropic noise, eventually few noises from other species that
actively communicate acoustically.