Acoustic, auditory, and morphological divergence in three species of neotropical frog

Wilczynski, Walter; McClelland, Blinda E.; Rand, A. Stanley

doi:10.1007/bf00213524

Cited by 54 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The vibration of the cords is influenced by the form of the vocal cords and by fibrous material sometimes attached to them, which determines the presence and the amplitude of harmonics (Wilczynski et al 1993;McClelland et al 1996McClelland et al , 1998Gridi-Papp et al 2006). In the rather rare cases where the vocal cord vibrations are near sinusoidal, little energy will be visible in the higher-frequency harmonics, but the less sinusoidal a vibration is, the more the higherfrequency harmonics will become apparent.…”

Section: Spectral and Temporal Variables In Anuran Vocalizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of bioacoustics in anuran taxonomy: theory, terminology, methods and recommendations for best practice

Köhler

Jansen

Rodríguez³

et al. 2017

Zootaxa

481

410

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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.

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Section: Spectral and Temporal Variables In Anuran Vocalizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of bioacoustics in anuran taxonomy: theory, terminology, methods and recommendations for best practice

Köhler

Jansen

Rodríguez³

et al. 2017

Zootaxa

481

410

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In many species, there is a close match between peripheral auditory sensitivity (BF) and the spectral peak in the male's advertisement call (Wilczynski et al, , 1993. Furthermore, the match between call spectrum and peripheral frequency sensitivity extends to variance between populations and the sexes within a single species (Narins and Capranica, 1976;Keddy-Hector et al, 1992;Wilczynski et al, 1992Wilczynski et al, , 1993.…”

Section: Functional Significance Of Peripheral Auditory Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Plasticity of Peripheral Auditory Frequency Sensitivity

2003

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Female midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus) use the auditory sense to detect and locate vocalizing males during the breeding season. Detection of conspecific vocal signals is essential to their reproductive success and can evoke strong phonotactic responses in gravid females but not in spent females that have released all of their eggs. Here, we test the hypothesis that seasonal variation in reproductive state affects the neurophysiological response properties of the peripheral auditory system in female midshipman fish. Iso-intensity responses of eighth nerve afferents from the sacculus, the main auditory end organ of the inner ear, to individual tones were measured for spike rate and vector strength (VS) of synchronization. Most auditory saccular units in reproductive, summer females showed robust temporal encoding up to 340 Hz, whereas nonreproductive winter females showed comparable encoding only up to 100 Hz. The dramatic upward shift in temporal encoding among summer fish was paralleled by increases in best frequency (BF), maximum evoked spike rate at BF, VS values at BF, and the percentage of units that showed significant VS to iso-intensity tones Ͼ140 Hz. Reproductive summer females were best suited to encode the higher harmonic components of male advertisement calls. This first demonstration of a natural cyclicity in peripheral auditory frequency sensitivity among vertebrates may represent, in this case, an adaptive plasticity of the female midshipman's auditory system to enhance the acquisition of auditory information needed for mate identification and localization during the breeding season.

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“…External and internal oblique muscles of the trunk pump air out of the lungs [Pough et al, 1992]. Laryngeal muscles open and close the glottis and move the vocal cords in and out of the air stream [McAlister, 1959;Martin and Gans, 1972;Schmidt, 1972a, b;Gans, 1973;Wilczynski et al, 1993]. Other non-muscular components may also affect the call [e.g., Drewry et al, 1982;Schneider, 1988].…”

Section: Peripheral Morphology Of Vocalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mating Vocalizations of Female Frogs: Control and Evolutionary Mechanisms

Emerson

Boyd

1999

Brain Behav Evol

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Vocalization behaviors of anuran amphibians are universally sexually dimorphic. Usually, only male frogs give an advertisement call, while female frog calls are limited to a soft and simple release call which is specifically suppressed at mating. In a very few species, however, female frogs also give mating vocalizations. We examined possible mechanisms for control of this rare heterotypical behavior. At the peripheral level, most differences in temporal and spectral characteristics between female mating calls and the calls of conspecific males related directly to sexual dimorphisms in laryngeal and oblique muscle morphology. At the neural and hormonal level, we first developed an integrated model for control of vocalizations, based primarily on male frog data. When this model is applied to females, female mating vocalizations were most similar to male advertisement calls, rather than being modified release calls. Females may have conscripted preexisting androgen-sensitive neural pathways typically used only by males but present in both sexes. Female mating calls have been heard only during courtship and amplexus. Androgen levels in females at this time are significantly higher than even those levels in males. Because this situation is common in frogs, female mating vocalizations likely evolved independently multiple times. Character optimization suggests that mate location is the most common biological role for female mate calling, but the particular aspects of reproductive biology vary widely across species.

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Acoustic, auditory, and morphological divergence in three species of neotropical frog

Cited by 54 publications

References 38 publications

The use of bioacoustics in anuran taxonomy: theory, terminology, methods and recommendations for best practice

The use of bioacoustics in anuran taxonomy: theory, terminology, methods and recommendations for best practice

Seasonal Plasticity of Peripheral Auditory Frequency Sensitivity

Mating Vocalizations of Female Frogs: Control and Evolutionary Mechanisms

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