Variation in Bioacoustic Characteristics in Eleutherodactylus coqui Thomas, 1966 and Eleutherodactylus antillensis (Reinhardt and Lutken, 1863) (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae) in the Puerto Rico Bank

Bioacoustics is an interdisciplinary science that combines biology, acoustics, and mathematics. This discipline can be used to study population ecology and behavior. Furthermore, we can use this tool to assess a population and suggest if a species of interest may be in a transitional state of becoming a new species by allopatric speciation. Amphibians communicate via sound and the environment has a key role in metabolism and sound dispersion. By analyzing temporal and spectral properties of acoustical communication in anurans, we can understand better how these animals are evolving to cope with their ever-changing environment. We studied the variation in acoustic parameters among five populations each of the red-eye coqui, Eleutherodactylus antillensis (Reinhardt and Lutken, 1863) and the common coqui, E. coqui Thomas, 1966 across the Puerto Rico Bank. These species are changing their vocalizations. Some populations have higher sound frequencies than other conspecific populations; other nocturnal species have populations with different temporal patterns of sound production. We found strong variation among the five populations examined for each species. In, E. antillensis, the size of the organism relates to temporal variation in sound production (i.e., inter-note interval and total call duration) and did not relate to spectral differentiation. In E. coqui, the population living at highest elevation above sea level assessed had a spectral footprint no other population shares, probably due to geographic isolation from other conspecific populations that live in lower elevations.