Brazil is home to one of the largest iron ore reserves in the world, with the Iron Quadrangle (MG) and Carajás Mountains (PA) standing out as regions that concentrate a large number of iron caves. In Carajás, the diversity and abundance of cave-dwelling bats is remarkable, with endangered species and species with restricted distribution, which has aroused the interest of researchers, regulatory bodies, and conservation institutions.
With the aim of monitoring environmental impacts on underground ecosystems associated with mining, the project proposal brings together knowledge of physiology, genetics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and conservation biology, with a focus on bat populations in the Carajás FLONA region (PA). These organisms play a central ecological role in these environments, acting as vectors of energy and nutrients and directly influencing the structure of communities.
The conservation of underground natural cavities is one of the great challenges facing mining, especially in regions like Carajás, where there is an overlap between areas of high ecological value and economic interest. Traditional monitoring of subterranean biodiversity is based on population ecology parameters, which only detect impacts after significant manifestation. ITV proposes an innovative approach because it considers individual responses of organisms (physiological and behavioral changes) to environmental disturbances. The use of conservation physiology tools allows for faster and more accurate diagnoses, with greater predictive power and the potential to guide mitigation actions before the damage becomes irreversible.




