Neotropical frogs and mating songs: The evolution of advertisement calls in glassfrogs

Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:2018
Authors:S, Simões, Castroviejo-Fisher
Journal:Journal of Evolutionary Biology
Date Published:Mar-11-2020
Keywords:acoustic communication, amphibians, comparative method, Neotropics, phenotypic disparity
Abstract:

Anurans emit advertisement calls with the purpose of attracting mates and repelling conspecific competitors. The evolution of call traits is expected to be associated with the evolution of anatomical and behavioral traits due to the physics of call emission and transmission. Additionally, since vocalizing might imply a trade‐off with investment in parental care, the evolution of calls is expected to trade‐off with parental care. Here, we investigated the association between body size, calling site, parental care and call properties (call duration, number of notes, peak frequency, frequency bandwidth and call structure) of the advertisement calls of glassfrogs (Centrolenidae)—a family of Neotropical, leaf‐dwelling anurans—using phylogenetic comparative methods. We also explored the tempo and mode of evolution of these traits and compared them with those of three morphological traits associated with body size, locomotion and feeding. We generated and compiled acoustic data for 72 glassfrog species (46% of total species richness), including representatives of all genera. We found that almost all acoustic traits have significant, but generally modest, phylogenetic signal. Peak frequency of calls is significantly associated with body‐size, while call structure is significantly associated with calling site and paternal care. Thus, the evolution of body size and calling site could constrain call evolution. The estimated disparity of acoustic traits was larger than that of morphological traits and the peak in disparity of acoustic traits generally occurred later in the evolution of glassfrogs, indicating a historically recent outset of the acoustic divergence in this clade.

URL:http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/jeb.13406
DOI:10.1111/jeb.13406
Short Title:J. Evol. Biol.
BioAcoustica ID: 
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith