02670nas a2200229   4500008004100000245013000041210006900171260001600240490000600256520187100262653001402133653001402147653003202161653002102193653002102214653001802235100002202253700001802275700001702293700002502310856010502335       2018                        eng d00aAcoustic indices as rapid indicators of avian diversity in different land-use types in an Indian biodiversity hotspotAbstract0 aAcoustic indices as rapid indicators of avian diversity in diffe  cJan-18-20180 v23 a<p>Passive acoustic monitoring is a potentially valuable tool in biodiversity hotspots, where surveying can occur at large scales across land conversion types. However, in order to extract meaningful biological information from resulting enormous acoustic datasets, rapid analytical techniques are required. Here we tested the ability of a suite of acoustic indices to predict avian bioacoustic activity in recordings collected from the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot in southwestern India. Recordings were collected at 28 sites in a range of land-use types, from tea, coffee, and cardamom plantations to remnant forest stands. Using 36 acoustic indices we developed random forest models to predict the richness, diversity, and total number of avian vocalizations observed in recordings. We found limited evidence that acoustic indices predict the richness and total number of avian species vocalizations in recordings (R2 &lt; 0.51). However, acoustic indices predicted the diversity of avian species vocalizations with high accuracy (R2 = 0.64, mean squared error = 0.17). Index models predicted low and high diversity best, with the highest residuals for medium diversity values and when continuous biological sounds were present (e.g., insect sounds &gt;8&thinsp;sec). The acoustic complexity index and roughness index were the most important for predicting avian vocal diversity. Avian species richness was generally higher among shade-grown crops than in the open tea plantation. Our results suggest that models incorporating acoustic indices can accurately predict low and high avian species diversity from acoustic recordings. Thus, ecoacoustics could be an important contributor to biodiversity monitoring across landscapes like the Western Ghats, which are a complex mosaic of different land-use types and face continued changes in the future.</p>
10adiversity10alandscape10apassive acoustic monitoring10ashade-grown crop10aspecies richness10aWestern Ghats1 aAgnihotri, Samira1 aRobin, V., V.1 aGoel, Anurag1 aBalakrishnan, Rohini  uhttps://www.veruscript.com/journals/journal-of-ecoacoustics/acoustic-diversity-in-an-indian-hotspot/02910nas a2200265   4500008004100000022001400041245019000055210006900245260001600314300000800330490000900338520196500347653001502312653001702327653001002344653002502354653002402379653002902403653001602432653002202448653001802470100001702488700001602505856012302521       2017                        eng d  a1175-532600aDescription of four new species of Burrowing Frogs in the Fejervarya rufescens complex (Dicroglossidae) with notes on morphological affinities of Fejervarya species in the Western Ghats0 aDescription of four new species of Burrowing Frogs in the Fejerv  cAug-06-2018  a4510 v42773 a<p>The Rufescent Burrowing Frog, Fejervarya rufescens, is thought to have a wide distribution across the Western Ghats in Peninsular India. This locally abundant but secretive species has a short breeding period, making it a challenging subject for field studies. We sampled 16 populations of frogs morphologically similar to F. rufescens in order to understand the variation among populations found across the Western Ghats. Our study shows significant morphological and genetic differences among the sampled populations, suggesting that F. &lsquo;rufescens&rsquo; is a complex of several undescribed species. Using evidence from morphology and genetics, we confirm the presence of five distinct species in this group and formally describe four as new. The new species were delineated using a phylogeny based on three mitochondrial genes (16S, COI and Cytb) and a haplotype network of a nuclear gene (Rag1). Hereafter, the distribution of F. rufescens is restricted to the state of Karnataka and adjoining regions of northern Kerala. Three new species (Fejervarya kadar sp. nov., Fejervarya manoharani sp. nov. and Fejervarya neilcoxi sp. nov.) are from regions south of Palghat gap in the state of Kerala, and one (Fejervarya cepfi sp. nov.) from the northern Western Ghats state of Maharashtra. These findings indicate that Fejervarya frogs of the Western Ghats are more diverse than currently known. Our results will also have implications on the conservation status of F. rufescens, which was previously categorized as Least Concern based on its presumed wide geographical distribution. Furthermore, in order to facilitate a better taxonomic understanding of this region&rsquo;s fejervaryan frogs, we divide all the known Fejarvarya species of the Western Ghats into four major groups&mdash;Fejervarya nilagirica group, Fejervarya rufescens group, Fejervarya sahyadris group and Fejervarya syhadrensis group, based on their morphological affinities.</p>
10aamphibians10abioacoustics10aIndia10aintegrative taxonomy10amolecular phylogeny10amulti-gene DNA barcoding10anew species10aspecies diversity10aWestern Ghats1 aGarg, Sonali1 aBiju, S. D.  uhttps://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/issue/view/zootaxa.4277.4https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4277.4.1