@article {57638, title = {Multimale amplexus, amplectant and advertisement calls, and tadpole development in Ololygon perpusilla (Lutz and Lutz, 1939)}, year = {2019}, author = {Edelcio Muscat and Guilherme Augusto-Alves and Lu{\'\i}s Felipe Toledo and Rafael M. Tanaka and Daniel R. Stuginski} } @article {53347, title = {Lessons from recordings lost in Brazil fire: deposit and back up}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {563}, year = {2018}, month = {Jan-11-2018}, pages = {473 - 473}, issn = {0028-0836}, doi = {10.1038/d41586-018-07456-0}, url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07456-0}, author = {Dena, Simone and Rebou{\c c}as, Raoni and Guilherme Augusto-Alves and Lu{\'\i}s Felipe Toledo} } @article {52564, title = {Behavioural response evoked by conspecific distress calls in two neotropical treefrogs}, journal = {Ethology}, volume = {123}, year = {2017}, month = {Jan-12-2017}, pages = {942 - 948}, abstract = {

Anurans emit distress calls when attacked by predators as a defensive mechanism. As distress calls may trigger antipredator behaviour even in individuals that are not under attack, we tested whether this defensive behaviour induced behavioural changes in neighbouring conspecifics. We compared the behavioural responses of two species of Neotropical hylid frogs (genus Boana) to conspecific distress calls and white noise. Individuals of both species interrupted their vocal activity and decreased call rate after hearing the distress call. Natural variation on signal intensity calibrated among the nearest neighbours did not influence the response and we did not observe negative phonotaxis after any acoustic stimulus. Despite the fact that many predators are acoustically oriented, we could not determine if such response (reduced call rate) was induced by risk assessment or by the masking effect on advertisement calls. Boana faber responded similarly to white noise and distress calls, while B. bischoffi responded more intensely to distress calls. Duration of silence after playbacks in B. faber was longer than B. bischoffi. We suggest that, if the signals are interpreted as a risk cue by neighbouring conspecifics, each species may be preyed upon by different predators, as they may have led to distinct defensive strategies and different responses to distress calls. If risk assessment information is included in distress calls, it triggers behavioural responses only in the nearest neighbours, as we did not observe responses on the vocal activity of the interspecific chorus. Our results add relevant data about acoustic communication and interpretations by anurans, highlighting the importance of considering cues within common and widespread signals.

}, doi = {10.1111/eth.2017.123.issue-1210.1111/eth.12693}, url = {http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/eth.2017.123.issue-12}, author = {Forti, Lucas Rodriguez and Forti, Anna B{\'a}rbara Bella Sanches and M{\'a}rquez, Rafael and Lu{\'\i}s Felipe Toledo}, editor = {Foster, S.} } @article {50508, title = {The acoustic repertoire of the Atlantic Forest Rocket Frog and its consequences for taxonomy and conservation (Allobates, Aromobatidae)}, journal = {ZooKeys}, volume = {692}, year = {2017}, month = {Sep-08-2018}, pages = {141 - 153}, abstract = {

The use of acoustic signals is a common characteristic of most anuran species to mediate intraspecific communication. Besides many social purposes, one of the main functions of these signals is species recognition. For this reason, this phenotypic trait is normally applied to taxonomy or to construct evolutionary relationship hypotheses. Here the acoustic repertoire of five populations of the genus Allobates from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest are presented for the first time, on a vulnerable to extinction Neotropical taxon. The description of males\’ advertisement and aggressive calls and a female call emitted in a courtship context are presented. In addition, the advertisement calls of individuals from distinct geographical regions were compared. Differences in frequency range and note duration may imply in taxonomic rearrangements of these populations, once considered distinct species, and more recently, proposed as a single species, Allobates olfersioides. Calls of the male from the state of Rio de Janeiro do not overlap spectrally with calls of males from northern populations, while the shorter notes emitted by males from Alagoas also distinguishes this population from the remaining southern populations. Therefore, it is likely that at least two of the junior synonyms should be revalidated. Similarities among male advertisement and female calls are generally reported in other anuran species; these calls may have evolved from a preexisting vocalization common to both sexes. Male aggressive calls were different from both the male advertisement and female calls, since it was composed by a longer and multi-pulsed note. Aggressive and advertisement calls generally have similar dominant frequencies, but they have temporal distinctions. Such patterns were corroborated with the Atlantic Forest Rocket Frogs. These findings may support future research addressing the taxonomy of the group, behavioral evolution, and amphibian conservation.

}, keywords = {Anuran communication, bioacoustics, conservation, female vocalization, taxonomy}, issn = {1313-2989}, doi = {10.3897/zookeys.692.12187}, url = {https://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=12187}, author = {Forti, Lucas Rodriguez and da Silva, Tha{\'\i}s Renata {\'A}vila and Lu{\'\i}s Felipe Toledo} } @article {47327, title = {The use of bioacoustics in anuran taxonomy: theory, terminology, methods and recommendations for best practice}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {4251}, year = {2017}, month = {Nov-04-2017}, pages = {1}, abstract = {

Vocalizations of anuran amphibians have received much attention in studies of behavioral ecology and physiology, but also provide informative characters for identifying and delimiting species. We here review the terminology and variation of frog calls from a perspective of integrative taxonomy, and provide hands-on protocols for recording, analyzing, comparing, interpreting and describing these sounds. Our focus is on advertisement calls, which serve as premating isolation mechanisms and, therefore, convey important taxonomic information. We provide recommendations for terminology of frog vocalizations, with call, note and pulse being the fundamental subunits to be used in descriptions and comparisons. However, due to the complexity and diversity of these signals, an unequivocal application of the terms call and note can be challenging. We therefore provide two coherent concepts that either follow a note-centered approach (defining uninterrupted units of sound as notes, and their entirety as call) or a call-centered approach (defining uninterrupted units as call whenever they are separated by long silent intervals) in terminology. Based on surveys of literature, we show that numerous call traits can be highly variable within and between individuals of one species. Despite idiosyncrasies of species and higher taxa, the duration of calls or notes, pulse rate within notes, and number of pulses per note appear to be more static within individuals and somewhat less affected by temperature. Therefore, these variables might often be preferable as taxonomic characters over call rate or note rate, which are heavily influenced by various factors. Dominant frequency is also comparatively static and only weakly affected by temperature, but depends strongly on body size. As with other taxonomic characters, strong call divergence is typically indicative of species-level differences, whereas call similarities of two populations are no evidence for them being conspecific. Taxonomic conclusions can especially be drawn when the general advertisement call structure of two candidate species is radically different and qualitative call differences are thus observed. On the other hand, quantitative differences in call traits might substantially vary within and among conspecific populations, and require careful evaluation and analysis. We provide guidelines for the taxonomic interpretation of advertisement call differences in sympatric and allopatric situations, and emphasize the need for an integrative use of multiple datasets (bio-acoustics, morphology, genetics), particularly for allopatric scenarios. We show that small-sized frogs often emit calls with frequency components in the ultrasound spectrum, although it is unlikely that these high frequencies are of biological relevance for the majority of them, and we illustrate that detection of upper harmonics depends also on recording distance because higher frequencies are attenuated more strongly. Bioacoustics remains a prime approach in integrative taxonomy of anurans if uncertainty due to possible intraspecific variation and technical artifacts is adequately considered and acknowledged.

}, keywords = {Amphibia, Anura, call, call analysis, call description, call variation, definitions, note, pulse, sound, species delimitation, taxonomy, vocalization}, issn = {1175-5326}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.4251.110.11646/zootaxa.4251.1.1}, url = {http://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/issue/view/zootaxa.4251.1}, author = {J{\"o}rn K{\"o}hler and Martin Jansen and Ariel Rodr{\'\i}guez and Philippe J. R. Kok and Lu{\'\i}s Felipe Toledo and Emmrich, Mike and Frank Glaw and C{\'e}lio F. B. Haddad and Mark-Oliver R{\"o}del and Miguel Vences} } @article {17269, title = {Can treefrog phylogeographical clades and species{\textquoteright} phylogenetic topologies be recovered by bioacoustical analyses?}, journal = {PLOS ONE}, volume = {12}, year = {2017}, month = {Dec-02-2018}, pages = {e0169911}, abstract = {

Phenotypic traits, such as the frog advertisement call, are generally correlated with interspecific genetic variation, and, as a consequence of strong sexual selection, these behaviors may carry a phylogenetic signal. However, variation in acoustic traits is not always correlated with genetic differences between populations (intraspecific variation); phenotypic plasticity and environmental variables may explain part of such variation. For example, local processes can affect acoustic properties in different lineages due to differences in physical structure, climatic conditions, and biotic interactions, particularly when populations are isolated. However, acoustic traits can be used to test phylogenetic hypotheses. We analyzed the advertisement calls of Dendropsophus elegans males from 18 sites and compared them with those of four closely related congeneric species, in order to test for differences between inter and intraspecific variation. We analyzed 451 calls of 45 males of these five species. Because males from distant sites were grouped together without population congruence, differences found in advertisement calls among individuals were not correlated with phylogeographical clades. Phylogenetic and cluster analyses of the D. elegans clades and those of closely related species grouped all five species into the same topology, as reported by previous molecular and morphological phylogenies. However, the topology of the D. elegans phylogeographical clades did not match the topology previously reported. Acoustic communication in D. elegans seems to be conserved among populations, and the phylogeographical history of the species does not explain the variation among lineages in call properties, despite some congruent phylogenetic signals evident at the species level. Based on molecular clocks retrieved from the literature, it seems that more than 6.5 million years of divergence (late Miocene) are necessary to allow significant changes to occur in the acoustic properties of these treefrog calls, making it possible to recover their phylogenetic history only based on acoustic evidence.

}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0169911}, url = {http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169911}, author = {Forti, Lucas Rodriguez and Lingnau, Rodrigo and Encarna{\c c}{\~a}o, Lais Carvalho and Bertoluci, Jaime and Lu{\'\i}s Felipe Toledo}, editor = {Chiang, Tzen-Yuh} }