Hyperextended call note repertoire of the endemic Madagascar treefrog <i>Boophis madagascariensis</i> (Rhacophoridae)

Narins, Peter M.; Lewis, Edwin R.; McClelland, Blinda E.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2000.tb00772.x

Cited by 52 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Pressing, 1998;Rissanen, 1997;Weng et al, 1999). Thus, no aesthetic criteria or matters of taste need enter into this definition, and it rejects nothing by fiat: if the complex 36-syllable vocalizations of the Madagascan frog Boophis (Narins, Lewis, & McClelland, 2000) were shown to be learned, this would constitute ''frog song''. For the remainder of this article I will drop the quotes and use ''animal song'' to denote complex, learned vocalizations.…”

Section: Vocal Music or ''Song''mentioning

confidence: 99%

The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

2006

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Studies of the biology of music (as of language) are highly interdisciplinary and demand the integration of diverse strands of evidence. In this paper, I present a comparative perspective on the biology and evolution of music, stressing the value of comparisons both with human language, and with those animal communication systems traditionally termed ''song''. A comparison of the ''design features'' of music with those of language reveals substantial overlap, along with some important differences. Most of these differences appear to stem from semantic, rather than structural, factors, suggesting a shared formal core of music and language. I next review various animal communication systems that appear related to human music, either by analogy (bird and whale ''song'') or potential homology (great ape bimanual drumming). A crucial comparative distinction is between learned, complex signals (like language, music and birdsong) and unlearned signals (like laughter, ape calls, or bird calls). While human vocalizations clearly build upon an acoustic and emotional foundation shared with other primates and mammals, vocal learning has evolved independently in our species since our divergence with chimpanzees. The convergent evolution of vocal learning in other species offers a powerful window into psychological and neural constraints influencing the evolution of complex signaling systems (including both song and speech), while ape drumming presents a fascinating potential homology with human instrumental music. I next discuss the archeological data relevant to music evolution, concluding on the basis of prehistoric bone flutes that instrumental music is at least 40,000 years old, and perhaps much older. I end with a brief review of adaptive functions proposed for music, concluding that no one selective force (e.g., sexual selection) is adequate to explaining all aspects of human music. I suggest that questions about ARTICLE IN PRESSthe past function of music are unlikely to be answered definitively and are thus a poor choice as a research focus for biomusicology. In contrast, a comparative approach to music promises rich dividends for our future understanding of the biology and evolution of music.

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Section: Vocal Music or ''Song''mentioning

confidence: 99%

The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

2006

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“…Aggressive and advertisement calls might be part of a graded signaling system in which components of the call can be gradually adjusted according to social context, for example, by the distance between interacting males (Schwartz 1986;Wagner 1989a, c;Grafe 1995;Jehle & Arak 1998;Reichert 2013a;reviewed in Wells 2007 andin Toledo et al 2015a). In some species, a clear distinction of aggressive and advertisement calls is difficult or impossible, and a hyperextended vocal repertoire is observed especially in highly motivated individuals (e.g., Amnirana nicobariensis, Dendropsophus minutus, Polypedates leucomystax, Boophis madagascariensis: Jehle & Arak 1998;Narins et al 2000;Christensen-Dalsgaard et al 2002;Toledo et al 2015a). A well-studied example is the Neotropical frog Dendropsophus ebraccatus (Wells & Schwartz 1984;Wells 1989;Reichert 2010Reichert , 2011aReichert , b, 2013b, where advertisement and aggressive calls can grade into each other: in response to increasing acoustic competition, males increase the duration and reduce the pulse-repetition rate of the primary note by reducing the number of secondary notes at the same time, resulting in a highly escalated aggressive call that is less attractive to females than the advertisement call.…”

Section: Intraspecific Variation In Frog Advertisement Callsmentioning

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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“…In some anuran species male calls are relatively simple, consisting of a single note or series of identical repeated notes (Catchpole and Slater, 2003), whereas in others, males can produce dozens of complex calls, the spectral and temporal structure of which can signal species or subspecies identity, sexual receptivity, position, and in some cases, the individual identity of males in a chorus (Wells, 1988;Narins et al, 2000;ChristensenDalsgaard et al, 2002;Feng et al, 2002Feng et al, , 2009aElliott and Kelley, 2007;Vignal and Kelley, 2007). Male advertisement calls in anurans can, therefore, provide a rich source of information to conspecifics (Beecher, 1989(Beecher, , 1991Sherman et al, 1997;Bee, 2002Bee, , 2004Feng et al, 2009a,b) and have been the subject of considerable interest for this reason.…”

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confidence: 99%

Acoustic Analysis of the Advertisement Calls of the Music Frog, Babina daunchina

Chen

Cui

Fang

et al. 2011

Journal of Herpetology

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ABSTRACT.-The acoustic structure of 18 male advertisement calls of the ''music frog'' (Babina daunchina), indigenous to the Emei mountain area of Sichuan province in southwest China was analyzed. Previous results showed that Babina typically call from within hidden burrows made by the males and must rely strongly on acoustic information for mate choice. Functioning ecologically as nests, burrows are used for mating, egg-laying, and pre-and postembryonic development. Male Babina calls are spectrally and temporally complex consisting of a sequence of 3-8 notes. Each note consists of a stack of frequency bands, which are nearly integer multiples of the fundamental residue. For all calls the fundamental frequency of successive notes increases monotonically. Moreover, there is a negative correlation between the lowest harmonic (F0) value of the first call note and the increments in fundamental frequency between notes in the same call, implying that constraints exist in the production mechanism. Hierarchical cluster and multidimensional scaling analysis of 29 temporal and spectral call parameters indicate that most of the variance between calls and between males is accounted for by three clusters of call features. The first includes 19 tightly correlated temporal and modulation features including note durations and modulation patterns and total call duration. The second cluster includes the successively increasing fundamental frequencies of the call notes and may reflect that individual males can alter fundamental frequency from call to call. The third cluster includes the dominant frequency bands in calls and may reflect the filter properties of each male's burrow.

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Hyperextended call note repertoire of the endemic Madagascar treefrog Boophis madagascariensis (Rhacophoridae)

Cited by 52 publications

References 41 publications

The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

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

Acoustic Analysis of the Advertisement Calls of the Music Frog, Babina daunchina

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