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Made available in DSpace on 2021-06-25T10:18:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-03-01 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Comunidad de Madrid Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España Temporal scale in animal communities is often associated with seasonality, despite the large variation in species activity during a diel cycle. A gap thus remains in understanding the dynamics of short-term activity in animal communities. Here we assessed calling activity of tropical anurans and addressed how species composition varied during night activity in assemblages along gradients of local and landscape environmental heterogeneity. We investigated 39 anuran assemblages in the Pantanal wetlands (Brazil) with passive acoustic monitoring during the peak of one breeding season, and first determined changes in species composition between night periods (early, mid and late) using two temporal resolutions (1- and 3-hr intervals). Then, we addressed the role of habitat structure (local and landscape heterogeneity variables from field-based and remote sensing metrics) and ecological context (species richness and phylogenetic relatedness) in determining changes in species composition (a) between night periods and (b) across days. Nocturnal calling activity of anuran assemblages varied more within the 1-hr resolution than the 3-hr resolution. Differences in species composition between early- and late-night periods were related to local habitat structure and phylogenetic relatedness, while a low variation in compositional changes across days was associated with low-heterogeneous landscapes. None of these relationships were observed using the coarser temporal resolution (3 hr). Our findings on the variation of calling activity in tropical anuran assemblages suggest potential trade-offs mediated by fine-temporal partitioning. Local and landscape heterogeneity may provide conditions for spatial partitioning, while the relatedness among co-signalling species provides cues on the ecological overlap of species with similar requirements. These relationships suggest a role of niche dimensional complementarity on the structuring of these anuran assemblages over fine-temporal scales. We argue that fine-temporal differences between species in breeding activity can influence the outcome of species interaction and thus, addressing temporal scaling issues can improve our understanding of the dynamics of animal communities. Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) Terrestrial Ecology Group Departamento de Ecología Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco Facultad de Ciencias Biología Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco Biological and Environmental Sciences Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Laboratório de Herpetologia e Comportamento Animal Departamento de Ecologia Instituto de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal de Goiás Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) FAPESP: 2013/50421-2 FAPESP: 2015/25316-6 Comunidad de Madrid: 2016-T2/AMB-1722 FAPESP: 2017/15772-0 FAPESP: 2019/04033-7 CNPq: 310144/2015-9 CAPES: 817737/2015 CAPES: 88881.068425/2014-01 Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España: CGL2017-88764-R Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España: PEJ2018-004603-A

In Lithuania, the Edible Dormouse (Glis glis) is an endangered red-listed species and only 10 populations are known at present. It is situated on the northern periphery of its distribution range and outside the continuous range of the European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) which is a key-species for this rodent. For this reason, habitats of the Edible Dormouse are completely different in Lithuania, where most dormouse populations are fragmented, isolated and might be very small compared to other countries, where beech stands predominate in Glis habitats. Alhough the Edible Dormouse is a well-investigated species in many parts of its range, there is still a lack of information about the ecology of this species on the periphery of its distribution range. In this presentation, we compare calling activity of the Edible Dormouse in core and peripheral populations using voice recorders. During the summer 2017, three voice recorders were deployed on three permanent sites in the Czech Republic, and three voice recorders were deployed at three different localities in Lithuania during the summer 2020. Voice recorders were continuously recording dormouse voices over the entire summer until the beginning of autumn, and relevant days of voice records were selected for the comparison of calling activity. The results of this study will help to evaluate a new method for Edible Dormouse investigation in Lithuania, revealing new and interesting information about its nocturnal life.

Population monitoring is essential to determine different aspects of the ecology and conservation of the species. In anurans, recording the acoustic activity of choruses allows surveying populations. Therefore, knowing the timing of male calls is fundamental to achieve this goal. Here we monitored calling activity of the Mediterranean tree frog (Hyla meridionalis) at eight localities in southern Iberian Peninsula and western North Africa in the frame of a citizen science program. Subsequently, after summarizing call activity with Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling, we aimed to identify the geographic and environmental variables that associate with the calling activity of frogs. The results of the 258-hour census showed that male tree frogs called mainly from December to July, although the duration and intensity of choruses varied, depending on the elevation and seasonality of the water bodies. Males sang earlier and had more durable call activities at lower elevation sites, which are sites with higher and more stable ambient temperatures. Also, calling activity was lower in sites where water fluctuates more over the annual cycle. Our results provide a first overview of the calling activity of the Mediterranean tree frog over a relatively large set of populations encompassing a wide variety of environmental conditions in its westernmost range of distribution. However, further studies relying on more intensive sampling, likely using automatic recorders, would be desirable to achieve a full understanding of the calling activity of tree frogs in the region.

Insects are an integral part of terrestrial ecosystems, but while they are ubiquitous, they can be difficult to census. Passive acoustic recording can provide detailed information on the spatial and temporal distribution of sound-producing insects. We placed recording devices in the forest canopy on Barro Colorado Island in Panamá and identified katydid calls in recordings to assess what species were present, in which seasons they were signaling, and how often they called. Soundscape recordings were collected at a height of 24 m in two replicate sites, sampled at three time-windows per night across five months, spanning both wet and dry seasons. Katydid calls were commonly detected in recordings, but the call repetition rates of many species were quite low, consistent with data from focal recordings of individual insects where calls were also repeated rarely. The soundscape recordings contained 6,789 calls with visible pulse structure. Of these calls, we identified 4,371 to species with the remainder representing calls that could not be identified to species. The identified calls corresponded to 24 species, with 15 of these species detected at both replicate sites. Katydid calls were detected throughout the night. Most species were detected at all three time points in the night, although some species called more just after dusk and just before dawn. The annotated dataset provided here serves as an archival sample of the species diversity and number of calls present in the forest canopy of Barro Colorado Island, Panama. These hand-annotated data will also be key for evaluating automated approaches to detecting and classifying insect calls. In changing forests and with declining insect populations, consistent approaches to insect sampling will be key for generating interpretable and actionable data.

Both sexes of Indian weta Gryllacropsis sp. communicate acoustically. Females lack an external ovipositor making it difficult to differentiate between the sexes in the field. There is limited ecological information on the species as it is found high up on the trunks of evergreen trees, well camouflaged, and active only at night. The present study was conducted to gain ecological information on this little known yet intriguing species. We tested the hypotheses that (a) calling activity of Indian weta is uniformly distributed throughout the year and (b) there is no difference in morphometric measurements between the sexes. The study was conducted in Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park, Goa, India. Visual scanning of tree trunks followed by vegetation sampling, psychoacoustic sampling, and morphometric analyses was carried out. Resource selection function values, obtained for a total of 52 tree species from 1984 individuals, were less than 0.1 for all plant species indicating no preference by the wetas. Peak calling activity was observed in the month of November (Rayleigh's test, Z = 7.90, p, The study investigated host plant association and calling activity of an Indian weta (Gryllacropsis sp.). The study also investigated sexual dimorphism in morphometric characters which could be used for identification of sexes in the field in the absence of external ovipositor in female wetas.

Anurans living in species-rich assemblages may experience acoustic niche overlap. To deal with potential masking interference during reproductive activity, species can present acoustic partitioning based on differences in calling period. Studies addressing this question in tropical assemblages have mainly focused on the seasonal scale, and little is known about nightly variation in calling. Here, we reported on phenology and abundance of five tropical anuran assemblages at both seasonal and daily scale and tested the effects of temperature and relative humidity on calling activity patterns of 19 species. Based on 420 hourly acoustic surveys, an overall peak of calling activity in between the first and fourth hour after sunset was identified by Rayleigh’s circular test, with a gradual decrease until sunrise. This nightly pattern was followed by most of the species in the assemblages and similarly observed for species presence and abundance of calling males. The acoustic niche overlap was greater than expected by chance within the assemblages, while no pattern of coincidence or segregation was found for the syntopic congeneric species (Dendropsophus, Boana and Leptodactylus). Moreover, the calling activity of the assemblages, measured as richness and diversity of calling species, was negatively influenced by air and water temperature and positively by relative humidity. Thus, climatic variables act as driver factors to determine calling activity and reproduction of anurans at daily scale. The absence of a segregation pattern at the assembly or genus levels in the calling activity over time indicates that the use of the acoustic temporal niche is not a limiting resource for Cerrado anurans., VG would like to thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brazil (CAPES) for doctoral fellowship, and RPB thanks the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq 308204/2013-1) for research productivity fellowship. VG was supported by CAPES/PROCAD-AM 1701/2018 (Grant No. 88887.374100/2019-00). DL was supported by a Global Marie S. Curie Fellowship (EAVESTROP-661408) granted by the European Commission (Program H2020) and a post-doctoral grant (2016-T2/AMB-1722, Atracción de Talento Investigador, Spain) provided by the Comunidad de Madrid and acknowledges a research project (CGL2017-88764-R, MINECO/AEI/FEDER, Spain) by the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad. This paper is developed in the context of National Institutes for Science and Technology (INCT) in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation, supported by MCTIC/CNPq (Proc. 465610/2014-5) and FAPEG (Proc. 201810267000023).

Background Many factors can influence circadian rhythms in animals. For acoustically communicating species, both abiotic cues (such as light and temperature) and biotic cues (such as the activity of other animals), can influence the timing of signalling activity. Here we compare the 24-h singing activity of the cricket Lebinthus luae in the laboratory and field to assess whether the presence of other singing insects influences circadian rhythm. Methods Acoustic monitors were placed in four localities in Singapore and the number of L. luae calls were counted for 10 min of each hour. Individuals from the same localities were captured and recorded in the laboratory in silence but with similar abiotic conditions (temperature and light cycle) as they experience in the field, and the number of calls over 24 h was quantified. Results The 24-h pattern of L. luae singing was not significantly different between laboratory and field recordings. Singing activity peaked in the morning, with a secondary peak in the afternoon and a smaller peak at night. In the field, L. luae sang in the same locations and at the same time as diurnally singing cicadas, suggesting that the sympatric cicada chorus did not affect the circadian rhythm of communication in this species. Acoustic niche partitioning could potentially explain the ability of this cricket to call alongside cicadas: L. luae sings at higher frequencies than sympatric cicadas, unlike nocturnally singing cricket species that overlap with cicadas in frequency.

Calling activity, bioacoustics and the diet of males is reported for three different populations of Oophaga vicentei in central Panama. Calling activity was predicted by time of day, season and temperature with peaks between 08:00 h to 10:00 h and was more frequent during the dry season. Only at one location was calling activity positively correlated with air temperature. The temperature was also positively correlated with call repetition rates and negatively with call duration. Within the ten first calls of a call-bout, there was a cline variation in dominant frequency, call duration and silent intervals. The stomach contents of males comprised mainly insects but also a large number of oribatid mites.

Tungara Frogs, Engystomops pustulosus, are known to reduce the complexity of their calls in the presence of predators. Although complex calls are more attractive to females, they also attract predators, particularly frog-eating bats, and are rarely emitted by solitary males. Therefore, if Tungara Frogs were to be released from predation pressure, as on the island of Taboga in the Gulf of Panama where frog-eating bats are absent, such constraints on calling should be alleviated. We compared the calling behavior of Tungara Frogs on Taboga with the calling behavior of those on Barro Colorado Island, located in central Panama where frog-eating bats are present, using timed video recordings. Compared with Tungara Frogs on Barro Colorado Island, male Tungara Frogs on Taboga called more, emitted consistently more calls in choruses, and called both day and night. On Taboga, even solitary males routinely embellished their calls with chuck elements. These results are consistent with a hypothesis of predator release positively affecting calling behavior.

Temporary pools are important resources for animals that have aquatic stages during their life history, and particularly for those living in dry climate regions. We investigated the breeding activity of an anuran assemblage in a small temporary pond in the Ampijoroa dry forest of Ankarafantsika National Park, northwestern Madagascar, during the first half of the rainy season from 2000 to 2001 and during the entire rainy season and the beginning of the dry season from 2003 to 2004. We also surveyed the anuran fauna of Ampijoroa throughout the long-term research conducted from 1999 to 2014. We estimated the breeding activity based on the calling intensity of male frogs. A total of 12 species of frogs was recorded, and eight out of them were confirmed to breed in the temporary pond. These eight species consisted of five families, including one introduced species. The initiation of calling activity seemed to be affected by rainfall in several species. Five of the eight species (Ptychadena mascareniensis, Boophis doulioti, Blommersia wittei, Heterixalus luteostriatus and H. tricolor) were considered prolonged breeders, and the other three (Laliostoma labrosum, Hoplobatrachus tigerinus, and Dyscophus insularis) were considered explosive breeders. Two species (Mantidactylus ulcerosus and Stumpffia sp.) were not observed to use the temporary pond for their breeding sites. Neither calls nor breeding sites of the remaining two species (Scaphiophryne calcarata and Mantella ebenaui) were confirmed, although they have been described to breed in stagnant water. This study indicates that temporary ponds in the Ampijoroa forest, which are quite limited in number, provide important habitat for reproduction of frogs, which are living in a harsh environment.

Bioacoustics is an effective way of recording detailed data during population surveys and monitoring. In the present study, we used an automated digital recorder (ADR) to describe the temporal variation in the calling activity of Scinax fuscomarginatus (Lutz, 1925) in central Brazil. We also evaluated the role of climatic variables (air temperature and precipitation) on calling activity by using a Generalized Additive Model (GAM). We conducted the recordings at five ponds in the Cerrado savanna of Rio Verde Municipality, in Goiás state between November 2013 and October 2014. The analysis of the 43.2 hours of acoustic recording showed that S. fuscomarginatus has a prolonged breeding pattern. The ADR provides a fine-scale description of the nocturnal calling pattern, as well as the oscillations between the rainy and dry seasons. The results of the analytical model also indicate that calling patterns were related to minimum (but not maximum) air temperatures and precipitation, which may be related to their reproductive and thermoregulatory requirements. Based on these findings, we conclude that the ADR method has potentially valuable applications for the collection of data on the natural history of anuran species, as well as supplying important insights for conservation initiatives.

Santos, Maurício Beux dos, Madalozzo, Bruno, Tozetti, Alexandro Marques, Loebens, Luiza, Cechin, Sonia Zanini (2021): Climatic dependence in the daily and seasonal calling activity of anurans from coastal wetlands of southernmost Brazil. Journal of Natural History 54 (31-32): 2037-2052, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2020.1833998, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2020.1833998

Detectors for the passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) of bats have become invaluable research tools, especially for surveys, monitoring programs and environmental impact assessments. However, little is known about the small-scale (within-site) variability of PAM recordings and especially about the influence of detector identity and distance, and of microphone orientation on the statistical confidence of activity estimates and species detection probabilities. We recorded vocalizations in a homogeneous meadow with no trees, bushes or tall ground vegetation. Eight detector pairs were arranged in an octagon, the two detectors of a pair facing in opposite directions. The call sequences of eight species were analyzed. The deviations of individual detectors from the overall mean were generally small, but large outliers occurred both at the file (temporal resolution: five seconds) and the night (resolution: one night) scale. All devices detected the main temporal patterns of calling activity in the study period, but three devices deviated systematically from the others and the sensitivity of two devices deteriorated over time. Detector orientation and distance were significant, yet small, sources of variability. The probability of detecting the presence of species correlated with species’ activity and ranged on average from 100 % for bats in total to only 18.8 % for the least active Myotis myotis. The sample sizes necessary to achieve 90 % statistical confidence of activity estimates ranged from 7 to 16 detectors and from 5 to 12 nights, depending on taxon. Increasing the number of nights resulted in much higher confidence than increasing the number of detectors. We recommend PAM studies of bats to frequently calibrate detector sensitivity; deploying at least three detectors per study site; sampling longer periods instead of deploying more detectors; randomly assigning and swapping detectors among sites, treatments, strata, etc.; and statistically scrutinizing the sample data, especially for outliers.

In this study, we examined the temporal variation in calling activity of a field cricket, Acanthogryllus asiaticus on a diel and seasonal scale. We also examined the acoustic structure of calls produced in the context of mating, namely, long distance mating call (LDMC), courtship call and post copulatory call. Finally, we examined the allometric relationship between sound-producing structures and body morphometry and tested whether peak frequency of LDMC was indicative of male body size. Our findings suggest that calling activity of A. asiaticus peaked between 2100 and 2400 h on a diel scale and between March and May (summer) on a seasonal scale. The three calls were acoustically distinct and stereotypic with the courtship and post copulatory calls being composed of two chirp-types each. This study presents the first description of post copulatory calls of a field cricket. Morphometric analyses revealed that both inter-tooth distance and teeth width varied along the file length, however, number of teeth and file length were not correlated. Harp area was correlated with body size and peak frequency was significantly negatively correlated with harp area. This implies that the peak frequency can potentially be an indicator of body size in this species.

Frogs plays an important role in monitoring and evaluating the health of wetland. Globally, many frog species are threatened. Therefore, it is valuable to first detect frog activity, then classify species, and lastly predict frog population. In this study, we used a CNN-based model to detect frog calls. Specifically, continuous field recordings were divided into fixed duration segments. Then, different CNN architectures and various time-frequency representations of frog calls were investigated. The different CNN models were evaluated using different training and test datasets to assess model robustness. Experimental results show that the best-averaged macro F1-score and accuracy obtained was 98.41% and 97.99%, obtained using Mel-spectrogram and VGG-style CNN. In addition, when the training and test data were from different recording days, the averaged macro F1-score reduced to 82.12% and 71.38%, respectively.

Over the past decade, dramatic declines in frog populations have been noticed worldwide. To examine this decline, monitoring frogs is becoming increasingly important. Compared to traditional field survey methods, recent advances in acoustic sensor technology have greatly extended spatial and temporal scales for monitoring animal populations. In this paper, we examine the problem of monitoring frog populations by analysing acoustic sensor data, where the population is reflected by community calling activity and species richness. Specifically, a novel acoustic event detection (AED) algorithm is first proposed to filter out those recordings without frog calls. Then, multi-label learning is used to classify each individual recording with six acoustic features: linear predictive coding coefficients, Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, linear-frequency cepstral coefficients, acoustic complexity index, acoustic diversity index, and acoustic evenness index. Next, frog community calling activity and species richness are estimated by accumulating the results of AED and multi-label learning, respectively. Finally, ordinary least squares regression (OLS) is conducted to reveal the relationship between frog populations (frog calling activity and species richness) and weather variables (maximum temperature and rainfall). Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed intelligent system can significantly facilitate the effort to estimate frog community calling activity and species richness with comparable accuracies. The statistical results of OLS indicate that rainfall pattern has a lagged impact on frog community calling activity (significant in the first day after rainy day) and species richness (significant in the fourth day after rainy day). Temperature is shown to affect species richness but is less likely to change calling activity.

This paper presents a system to analyze long field recordings with low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for bio-acoustic monitoring. A method based on spectral peak track, Shannon entropy, harmonic structure and oscillation structure is proposed to automatically detect anuran (frog) calling activity. Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is introduced for modelling those features. Four anuran species widespread in Queensland, Australia, are selected to evaluate the proposed system. A visualization method based on extracted indices is employed for detection of anuran calling activity which achieves high accuracy.

Anthropogenic noise has been increasing during the last decades, altering soundscapes throughout most aquatic environments. In estuarine shallow waters one of the most prevalent sources of underwater noise are motorboats and ferries. In this study we compared the effect of boat noise and ambient noise playbacks on the calling activity of Lusitanian toadfish males (Halobatrachus didactylus), a species that relies on advertisement calls for mate attraction. Two sets of 12 concrete nests that toadfish males occupy spontaneously in the Tagus estuary (Portugal), were exposed to sounds during a fortnight by playing back either ambient noise (control) or boat noise (treatment) during one reproductive season. Noise treatment mimicked the passage of 10 ferries and of 4 small boats per hour during 18 hours, similar to what fish experience in Tagus estuary. Acoustic activity of each nesting male was monitored during the experimental period. By analysing male vocal activity, we found that calling rate significantly decreased in males under boat noise treatment. These results suggest that exposure to anthropogenic noise may alter vocalization patterns and likely impact reproduction in vocal fish.

Understanding anuran calling activity patterns is important for maximizing efficiency and value of call survey data collection and analyses. Previous studies have primarily focused on identifying and quantifying abiotic variables that influence anuran calling activity, and investigating relationships between calling activity and population estimates. In this study we investigated the use of a predictor pond approach to guide call survey effort. In this approach, calling activity at a subset of breeding sites (e.g., ponds) is used as a predictor of calling activity at additional breeding sites, with the goal being to minimize sampling effort while simultaneously maximizing sampling efficiency. We explored the efficiency of this approach using call survey data collected on the endangered Houston Toad (Bufo [Anaxyrus] houstonensis) at 15 known breeding ponds over 9 survey years. We found that if calling activity at 3 predictor ponds was used to decide if additional call surveys would occur at the remaining 12 ponds, we would have hypothetically correctly assumed calling activity was not occurring at non-predictor ponds on 92.1% of survey nights, and we would have hypothetically detected 93.9% of the total number of detected individuals over the 9 survey years. We found the predictor pond approach performed well in our case study, and believe it could be a valuable tool for many anuran monitoring programs.

Anthropogenic noise is a global pollutant and several studies have identified its impact on wildlife. This research shows how the noise produced by mining affects crickets' acoustic communication. Two passive acoustic monitoring devices (SMII) were installed in a forest fragment located at 500 m from the Brucutu Mine in Brazil. Another two SMII were installed distant 2500 from the mine. The equipment was configured to record from 17:00 to 05:00 h during seven days in April 2013. The authors analyzed the spectral characteristics of acoustic activity of three species of crickets (Anaxipha sp., Gryllus sp., and a Podoscirtinae species) before, during, and after the passing of mine trucks. For comparison the authors analyzed the acoustic characteristics for Anaxipha sp. and Gryllus sp. found in the distant site. Results showed a calling interruption for all the species during truck transit. Gryllus sp. emitted calls with higher maximum frequencies, average power, and larger bandwidth in the site close to the mine. Podoscirtinae species emitted calls with lower minimum frequencies, higher average power, and large bandwidth in the close site. The authors show that insect acoustic behavior varies between areas with different levels of noise. The disruption of this behavior may have negative consequences for their reproductive success.

Although many fish species are vocal, the use of fish sounds for aquaculture management and wild population protection has not received much attention. In this study, sound production of three members of the Sciaenidae family was monitored before and during spawning in aquaculture facilities. The species examined include the meagre Argyrosomus regius, the shi dum Umbrina cirrosa and red drum Sciaenops ocellatus. Red drum reproduces spontaneously in captivity, whereas shi drum and meagre often require hormonal stimulation using gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) for the induction of oocyte maturation, ovulation and spawning. In all three species, a clear increase in calling activity was detected during spawning nights, when longer sounds with a higher number of faster repeated pulses were emitted. Changes of call temporal features could be related to histological changes in the sonic muscles. After GnRHa treatment and during spawning, meagre sonic fibres were wider and the ratio of sarcoplasmic reticulum to myofibril cross-sectional area was higher. The correlation of calling activity with spawning events opens up the possibility of using the monitoring of calling activity and of call temporal features as tools for evaluating the reproductive state of different sciaenid species, both in the wild and captivity. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Data were collected using multimodal monitoring technologies pairing sound recorders with time-lapse camera systems. In the spring of 2015, 2016, and 2017, sound recordings and imagery were collected at a wet meadow and forested slough in the Central Platte River Valley of Nebraska. Boreal chorus frog (Pseudacris maculata) calling activity was obtained from analysing sound recordings. Habitat metrics including vegetation phenology and wet meadow hydropattern were derived from image analysis. This dataset can be used to assess phenology, anuran vocalization activity, and environmental change, as well as to further understanding of wetland ecology. Data are co-submitted with manuscript Brinley Buckley, E. M., Gottesman, B. L., Caven, A. J., Harner, M. J., and Pijanowski, B. C., Assessing ecological and environmental influences on Boreal Chorus Frog (Pseudacris maculata) spring calling phenology using multimodal passive monitoring technologies. Ecological Indicators (In Press).

In anuran species with short breeding seasons, an extension of diel activity to the night hours could be favoured to maximize mating opportunities but individuals must deal with physiological and behavioural constraints. We tested this hypothesis in the Yungas red-belly toad, Melanophryniscus rubriventris (Vellard, 1947). We registered diel pattern of male callingactivity in two localities using automated recording systems, and related it to abiotic factors as temperature, relative air humidity and precipitation. The diel pattern of vocalization was mainly diurnal. Interestingly, though, nocturnal calling activity was a common feature, representingbetween 40% and 43% of call records in both localities. Vocal activity was significantly influenced by time of the day and presence of rainfall. Calling males showed high plasticity, with activity in the entire environmental range of relative air humidity and temperature. Nocturnal calling seems to play an important role in the mating strategy of males, and it is probably morefrequent in the genus Melanophryniscus than currently assumed. We discuss the implications of our findings in relation to different aspects of ecology of the species and suggest that bright coloration in M. rubriventris might result from a compromise between several non-conflicting functions (e.g. aposematism and thermoregulation). Fil: Pereyra, Laura Cecilia. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET - Salta. San Salvador de Jujuy; Argentina Fil: Akmentins, Mauricio Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET - Salta. San Salvador de Jujuy; Argentina Fil: Sanabria, Eduardo Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Filosofía, Humanidades y Artes; Argentina Fil: Vaira, Marcos. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET - Salta. San Salvador de Jujuy; Argentina

Amphibian activity is affected by environmental variables, and in some species from tropical and subtropical regions the males in activity are bigger at the beginning of the rainy season than at the end. In this context, the relationship between male calling activity and climatic variables was evaluated in a population of Boana pulchella from Uruguay. This tree frog is distributed from southern Brazil to central and northern Argentina and is a prolonged breeder, enabling us to evaluate temporal male body size variations. The study population was in a temperate region with seasonal variation of temperature and aseasonal rainfall. Monthly mean temperatures and total rainfall were obtained from a meteorological station 15 km from the semi-permanent pond where the sampling work was conducted. From November 2005 to November 2006, 10 m from this pond, and three days per month, air temperature and relative humidity were recorded, and monthly photoperiods were calculated. From 20:00–22:00 on the days climatic variables were determined, the activity of B. pulchella was measured through an acoustic and visual encounter survey. In addition, animals were collected, measured, and released. Male activity was not correlated with either mean temperature or photoperiod. This was compatible with the aseasonal male activity calculated with circular statistics. However, male activity was positively correlated with rainfall. The occurrence of froglets was seasonal, concentrated mainly in November 2005. The males in the cold season were larger than those in the warm season. Qualitative comparison among calling phonologies at different latitudes indicated B. pulchella was inactive during some cold months in the south and during some warm months in the north. This geographical variation in calling phenology indicates that local environmental temperatures affect activity and likely reproduction of B. pulchella, with the optimum being in the range of cold to mild.

Vocalizations are important for female attraction and territory delimitation in prolonged breeding anurans. Males of Hypsiboas prasinus display year-round nocturnal calling activity, using herbaceous and bushy vegetation along the margins of ponds as calling sites. We monitored the temporal pattern of calling activity from July 2011 to June 2012, and vocalizations were recorded for bioacoustical analysis. We quantified the physical parameters for four of the five types of vocalizations found in this species: an introductory advertisement call (Type A call), a chorus advertisement call (Type B call), a resuming activity advertisement call (Type C call), and an agonistic call. Calling activity was spread throughout the annual cycle and there was no correlation between air temperature and calling activity. This finding indicates that the calling pattern is controlled predominantly by behavior and not physiology. During the cold dry season, some individuals were observed to shift their calling site...

In animals, the expression of diverse reproductive behaviors is hormonally regulated. In particular, vocalizing during courtship has been related to circulating androgen levels, and reciprocally, conspecific vocalizations are known to modulate androgen secretion in vertebrates. The effect of natural sounds of abiotic origin on hormonal status has virtually not received attention. Therefore, we evaluated the vocal responses of male Batrachyla taeniata frogs to conspecific chorus and rainfall sounds in natural and controlled laboratory settings, measuring the testosterone levels of exposed individuals. In field and laboratory conditions, testosterone levels of frogs exposed to 31.5 min of chorus and rain sounds and non-exposed individuals were similar. In the field, frogs increased their call rate in response to playbacks of chorus and rain sound, but the evoked calling activity was unrelated to plasma testosterone. In contrast to the field, frogs showed limited responsiveness to 31.5-min acoustic exposures in the laboratory. Similarly to the field, for vocally active males tested in the laboratory there was no association between call rate and testosterone levels. Additionally, in this group, testosterone levels were higher in vocally active males relative to non-calling individuals. Overall, these results indicate that in B. taeniata testosterone levels are not altered following a short-term exposure to conspecific biotic and to abiotic sounds. Our results are suggestive of a threshold influence of testosterone on the vocal activity of the species studied. Further explorations of the influence of abiotic sounds on endocrine activation are required to understand how animals respond to variable acoustic environmental conditions.

Many characteristics of signals can convey information, but the exact timing of the signal often matters as well. The timing of signals is shaped by selective pressures including mate preferences, predation, and competition. In many insect communities, male calling to attract females is persistent and pervasive, and signal timing interactions among individuals are relatively common. In Neotropical forests, many katydid species are represented in the acoustic environment, but calls are usually short (

Climate often regulates different aspects of the life cycle and activity of amphibians. Climatic seasonality may impose severe restrictions on breeding patterns of direct-developing terraranan frogs. We studied the influence of abiotic cues on calling activity of males of the direct-developing frog Oreobates discoidalis in the Yungas forests of north-western Argentina. Vocalization activity and daily emission pattern of the vocal repertoire were registered with a frog-logger, and climatic variables were registered with a data logger. We sampled two reproductive seasons from 2010 to 2011. We used ordinal logistic regression to evaluate the relationship between independent climatic variables and the intensity of calling activity. The calling season of males of O. discoidalis was triggered by the first rainfall of the aestival season. The species could be defined as crepuscular-nocturnal with a calling activity peak at dusk. Sporadic calling activity during day time was associated with conditions of high humidity and rainfall. Both the emission and the intensity of the advertisement call activity were influenced by time of the day, high levels of relative air humidity and presence of rainfall; air temperature was not a determinant factor in the calling activity of this frog species. Territorial calls were strongly associated with full chorus activity that could be associated with a mechanism of inter-male spacing. Fil: Akmentins, Mauricio Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Jujuy. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Jujuy; Argentina Fil: Pereyra, Laura Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Jujuy. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Jujuy; Argentina Fil: Sanabria, Eduardo Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Filosofía, Humanidades y Artes; Argentina Fil: Vaira, Marcos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Jujuy. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Jujuy; Argentina

Rana latastei and Rana dalmatina are two explosive breeder amphibians whose mating seasons last less than 1 month. The two species have very different repertoires of vocalisations, as Rana dalmatina uses only one advertisement call while Rana latastei uses two different vocalisations with opposite structural features. In our research, we continually recorded the calling activity of the two species during a whole breeding season in a pond where they breed in syntopy in order to assess the possible functions of their vocalisations. Males of both species increased their activity in coincidence with the peak of activity of females, but Rana latastei males reached the peak 2–3 days before the deposition peak. By contrast, males of Rana dalmatina reached the peak at the same time as the deposition peak, and called at high intensity long after the deposition peak. These different acoustic patterns led us to infer different prevailing functions for the vocalisations of these species. Male vocalisations of...

Calling activity in terrestrial frogs can be used as a measure of habitat suitability for reproduction. We evaluated the calling activity of the common tink frog Diasporus diastema (Eleutherodactylidae) in 12 secondary forest sites that vary in age of recovery, and three old growth sites in the Caribbean of Costa Rica. We used visual and acoustic surveys along transects, and we identified only 26 individuals in a total of 12 hours of censuses for each site. We also used automated species identification from recordings, and we detected D. diastema in 10,605 of 49,273 recordings. The peak of the daily calling activity occurred from 2100h to 0100h, and the peak of monthly activity occurred in May. Calling activity did not vary among the different forest sites, suggesting that secondary forests can provide suitable habitat for D. diastema reproduction.

Current smartphone authentication systems are deemed inconvenient and difficult for users on remembering their password as well as privacy issues on stolen or forged biometrics. New authentication system is demanded to be implicit to users with very minimum user involvement being. This idea aims towards a future model of authentication system for smartphones users without users realizing them being authenticated. We use the most frequent activity that users carry out with their smartphone, which is the calling activity. We derive two basics related interactions that are first factor being arm’s flex (AF) action to pick a phone to be near ones’ ears and then once getting near ear using second factor from ear shape image. Here, we combine behavior biometrics from AF in first factor and physical biometrics from ear image in second factor. Our study shows our dual-factor authentication system does not require explicit user interaction thereby improving convenience and alleviating burden from users from persistent necessity to remember password. These findings will augment development of novel implicit authentication system being transparent, easier, and unobtrusive for users.

In this study I examine the variability in calling activity of Sciarasaga quadrata over both the short (4 d) and long term (life span), and the temporal pattern to host searching by its most significant natural enemy, the ormiine fly Homotrixa alleni. Indeed, few male S. quadrata survive the entire calling season as this acoustically orienting parasitoid fly continually 'culls' calling males out of the population. I found that male S. quadrata commence calling over 1 h before sunset, cease around midnight and call, on average, for over 3 h within this period (range 0-1 1 h 09 min). There was significant concordance and repeatability in calling activity over both the short and long term, enabling me to conclude that relative differences in calling activity among males persist throughout a male's life span. There was a distinct peak to host searching by gravid female flies, with 82 % of all flies collected at acoustic traps between sunset and midnight. A positive association between call duration (time spent calling) and fly attraction was evident from multiple collections of flies at single traps. Counter to expectation, there was no significant decline in average call duration across successive collections of males, indicating that long-call-duration males were not being selectively culled by flies from the calling population. Males at the end of the calling season, when their remaining reproductive potential is low, allocate the majority of their calling time between sunset and midnight despite the high risk of fly attack. The distribution of call durations within the population was not skewed, which if heritable, indicates a lack of history of directional selection acting on call duration. Limited evidence suggests that encounters with females are rare in S. quadrata so that males may be selected, irrespective of natural selection pressure, to call for long periods of time to optimize their chance of attracting mates. The above findings are further discussed in relation to parasitoid foraging and acoustic reproductive strategies.

We recorded the calling activity of frogs at a permanent pond 80 km south of Sydney between 1987 and 1989, documenting the calling seasons of five species and relating calling activity (within calling seasons) to temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and rainfall. Three species commenced calling in August/September with Litoria peronli and Uperokia laevigata calling consistently throughout the summer months and Umnodynastes dumerilil calling more sporadically. Limnodynastes peronii appeared capable of calling at any time of the year, but did not call continuously. Litoria verreauxii called very consistently from January to September. Random effects models indicated that the probability of males calling increases with increasing temperatures in Limnodynastes peronli, Litoria peronii and Uperoleia laevigata. Increasing barometric pressure was positively associated with calling in Umnodynastes peronii. Calling was not related to either rainfall or humidity for any species. The calling seasons were similar to expectations based on published information. The lack of relationships between calling and rainfall and humidity may be related to the presence of permanent water and or the regular rainfall experienced throughout the study period. Historical data from this study may provide a baseline for future studies to assess changes in calling phenology linked to climate change.

The calling activity and agonistic behavior of Pseudis minuta Gunther, 1858 were described based on observations made in the Reserva Biologica do Lami, Porto Alegre municipality, Brazil. Field work included bimonthly surveys in one semipermanent pond, each lasting approximately two days and two nights, from August 2004 to July 2005. Males produced three distinct calls: the advertisement call and two aggressive calls. The dominant frequency of the advertisement call was not correlated with the mass or the snout-vent length of the recorded males. We observed two agonistic interactions between males: one involved acoustic interaction, and the other, acoustic and physical interactions. Calling activity was primarily nocturnal, and occasionally diurnal, with peak at about 2300 h. The number of calling males varied significantly through the year with a peak in September.

We studied the calling behavior of male mink frogs, Rana septentrionalis, and how their calling activity varied through nightly calling periods. We observed focal males during their summer breeding season for 1 h periods during chorus activity, which extends from midnight until 0900h, and recorded call types and rates. During this period, male R. septentrionalis produced a repertoire of single and multi-note calls composed of one or two note types, referred to as cuk and rumble notes. Calls that included series of both note types were most frequent between 0100 and 0330h, while single cuks were primarily produced early and late in the chorus period. Call rate peaked between 0200h and 0300h, declined until dawn, then increased until 0900h. Call properties were analyzed from recordings of male vocalizations; temporal properties, such as call and note duration, were the most variable, both within and among males, whereas spectral properties, such as dominant frequency, varied the least. In general, males produced the most complex and variable calls during a peak period of calling activity.

I recorded the calling activity of the males of a population of the common eastern froglet Crinia signifera during 1988 to determine the seasonal and temporal patterns of calling activity and the influence of micrometeorological variables on calling. The patterns of calling were recorded using an automated cassette recorder switched on for 10 seconds approximately every 15 minutes. To assess the effects of micrometeorology on calling I compared the mean hourly calling activity with air temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, rainfall and wind intensity with time of day as a co-variable. This comparison was undertaken for data from three separate two-month periods of the year, as well as with the data from the three periods combined, to determine if there were seasonal differences in the effects of micrometeorology. For the analysis I used a forward stepwise Generalised Linear Model. Chorusing was recorded in every month of the year. Time of day was highly significant as a predictor of hourly calling a...

Calling activity in frogs is energetically demanding to males because they usually perform at or near their physiological capacities. Metabolic fuel for muscle contractions during bouts of aerobic calling activity comes from carbohydrates and lipids that are stored in the trunk muscles. I monitored nightly calling performance in males of seven tropical frog species from two families, Hylidae and Leptodactylidae, and compared levels of glycogen and lipid in the trunk muscles from males collected before and after a three-hour period of calling activity. Trunk muscles from late-evening males in five species had up to 63% less glycogen than the trunk muscles from early-evening males; relatively little depletion was observed in two other species. Overall, glycogen reserves and rates of depletion were highest in species with very high calling rates. It was not possible to measure changes in the relatively large stores of lipid in the trunk muscles after only 3 h of calling. Nevertheless, intramuscular lipid stores probably provide a greater percentage of the energy needed for sound production than glycogen stores, and are largest in species with high calling rates.

We studied the calling activity of a savanna anuran assemblage and correlated two climatic parameters, rainfall and air temperature, with anuran calling. We made observations from September 1991 until March 1993 and quantified nocturnal calling activity by counting the number of calling males for each species present in a permanent pond. Bufo paracnemis had the shortest calling activity period and Physalaemus cuvieri had a seasonal calling period, lasting a maximum of four months. Diversity of calling males and species richness reached a peak in the first three months of the rainy season. Comparisons with other populations indicate that the reproductive period of P cuvieri varies along its geographical distribution in a manner related to regional climatic conditions.

Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. 2006. Calling activity of Eleutherodactylus frogs of Puerto Rico and habitat distribution of E. richmondi. MS Thesis. Department of Biology. University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. Chapter 1: Digital recorders increase the detected calling activity level and detection probability for acoustical monitoring of Eleutherodactylus frogs Chapter 2: Calling activity of highland Eleutherodactylus frogs of puerto rico: implications for monitoring projects Chapter 3: Habitat distribution map for the vulnerable frog Eleutherodactylus richmondi from Puerto Rico A version of Chapter 1 has been published: Villanueva-Rivera, L. J. 2007. Digital recorders increase detection of Eleutherodactylus frogs. Herpetological Review 38: 59-63.

Animal activity patterns can be influenced by selection pressures from local environmental conditions that might fluctuate at different temporal scales. Although studies with frog species and local populations can suggest how variation of environmental factors affects activity patterns, this topic has received little coverage for Neotropical diurnal frogs that inhabit streams, particularly for subtropical species. We described the temporal patterns of calling activity of Schmidt's Spinythumb Frogs (Crossodactylus schmidti) in southern Brazil and investigated the role of environmental factors on this activity. We recorded local environmental variables and monitored calling activity from October 2011 to September 2012, by counting the number of calling males and the number of emitted calls at hourly intervals throughout the day. Male frogs engaged in calling activity year-round, despite the local climatic seasonality. There was no seasonality in the number of calling males or in the number of cal...

The calling behaviour of Petaurista philippensis was studied from March 2009 to February 2010, in the tropical deciduous forests of the Sitamata Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India. Surveys were conducted from the dusk or 1900 hr to 0600 hr. A total of 268 call bouts were recorded. Call frequency was highest in March 2009. The most vocal periods were midnight and early night, just before entering into the nest cavities. Annual, seasonal and daily call frequencies were insignificant ( P > 0.05) between male and female. 5-10 min call bout category contained highest account (40%). Calling was mostly performed in the mid canopy area of the trees. Perch height was found positively related to tree height.

A new species of treefrog of the Boophis rappiodes group (Anura, Mantellidae) is described from the Sahamalaza – Iles Radama National Park in northwest Madagascar. This new species is green in colour with bright red speckling across its head and dorsum; similar in morphology to other species of this group including: B. bottae, B. rappiodes, B. erythrodactylus and B. tasymena. The new species can be distinguished by its advertisement call and by a genetic divergence of more than 4.9% in the analysed mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene fragment. Its call consists of two note types: a trill and a click; although similar sounding to B. bottae, the trill note of the new species has a faster pulse rate while the click note is predominantly two-pulsed rather than three. All individuals were detected from the banks of two streams in Ankarafa Forest. The new species represents the only member of the B. rappiodes group endemic to Madagascar’s western coast, with the majority of other members known from the eastern rainforest belt. Despite its conspicuous call, it has not been detected from other surveys of northwest Madagascar and it is likely to be a local endemic to the peninsula. The ranges of two other amphibian species also appear restricted to Sahamalaza, and so the area seems to support a high level of endemicity. Although occurring inside a National Park, this species is highly threatened by the continuing decline in the quality and extent of its habitat. Due to these threats it is proposed that this species should be classified as Critically Endangered according to the IUCN Red List criteria.