Data_Sheet_1_Older males whistle better: Age and body size are encoded in the mating calls of a nest-building amphibian (Anura: Leptodactylidae).XLSX

Courtship acoustic displays in anuran amphibians are energetically costly and risky, but have a major role in mating success since they encode relevant information regarding the caller’s identity and status. Age and size are essential traits shaping fitness, reproductive success and life-history strategies, and thus are expected to also have a role in courtship displays. We tested this assumption in a species of nest-building frogs, Leptodactylus bufonius, in northern Argentina. We conducted the first detailed quantitative description of the males’ mating calls and assessed the effects of biological traits (i.e., body size parameters and individual age) and local climate (i.e., air temperature and humidity) on the main acoustic features of these calls (i.e., call duration, inter-call duration, dominant frequency, and dominant frequency modulation). The calls were short (mean ± SE, 0.163 ± 0.004 s), whistle-like, single notes with harmonic structure. The dominant frequency (1381.7 ± 16.2 Hz) decreased with arm length (χ2 = 5.244, df = 1, p = 0.022) and had an upward modulation (456.4 ± 11.0 Hz) which increased with age (χ2 = 4.7012, df = 1, p = 0.030). Call duration and dominant frequency were the most static parameters at intra-individual level, indicating their role in individual recognition. Temperature and humidity shaped the temporal acoustic parameters, and the dominant frequency. Our findings suggest that the acoustic features of the mating calls in amphibians could promote female mate choice in relation to both size and age and open up new questions for future research: are females more attracted to older males, and what are the specific costs and benefits? We suggest that mating calls may direct female preferences toward males of certain size and age classes, ultimately shaping the life-history strategies in a given population. Finally, we found discrepancies in the mating calls of L. bufonius recorded from Corrientes and those previously described from other populations, which suggests that multiple species may have been recorded under the same name.</p

Excess attenuation (dB) of pure tones over water substrate in the study sites.

<p>Measurements recorded at 1 m (circles), 2 m (triangles), 4 m (crosses), and 8 m (diamonds) relative to SPLs (dB re 20 μPa) at 0.5 m from the loudspeaker.</p

Presentation_1_Older males whistle better: Age and body size are encoded in the mating calls of a nest-building amphibian (Anura: Leptodactylidae).PDF

Courtship acoustic displays in anuran amphibians are energetically costly and risky, but have a major role in mating success since they encode relevant information regarding the caller’s identity and status. Age and size are essential traits shaping fitness, reproductive success and life-history strategies, and thus are expected to also have a role in courtship displays. We tested this assumption in a species of nest-building frogs, Leptodactylus bufonius, in northern Argentina. We conducted the first detailed quantitative description of the males’ mating calls and assessed the effects of biological traits (i.e., body size parameters and individual age) and local climate (i.e., air temperature and humidity) on the main acoustic features of these calls (i.e., call duration, inter-call duration, dominant frequency, and dominant frequency modulation). The calls were short (mean ± SE, 0.163 ± 0.004 s), whistle-like, single notes with harmonic structure. The dominant frequency (1381.7 ± 16.2 Hz) decreased with arm length (χ2 = 5.244, df = 1, p = 0.022) and had an upward modulation (456.4 ± 11.0 Hz) which increased with age (χ2 = 4.7012, df = 1, p = 0.030). Call duration and dominant frequency were the most static parameters at intra-individual level, indicating their role in individual recognition. Temperature and humidity shaped the temporal acoustic parameters, and the dominant frequency. Our findings suggest that the acoustic features of the mating calls in amphibians could promote female mate choice in relation to both size and age and open up new questions for future research: are females more attracted to older males, and what are the specific costs and benefits? We suggest that mating calls may direct female preferences toward males of certain size and age classes, ultimately shaping the life-history strategies in a given population. Finally, we found discrepancies in the mating calls of L. bufonius recorded from Corrientes and those previously described from other populations, which suggests that multiple species may have been recorded under the same name.</p

Excess attenuation (dB) of playback calls over soil substrate in the study sites.

<p>Measurements recorded at 1 m (circles), 2 m (triangles), 4 m (crosses), and 8 m (diamonds) relative to SPLs (dB re 20 μPa) at 0.5 m from the loudspeaker. Each symbol represents the average for six calls of a species at a given distance. Abbreviations: Pp: <i>Pelophylax perezi</i>, Lc: <i>Lithobates catesbeianus</i>.</p

Excess attenuation (dB) of playback calls over water substrate in the study sites.

<p>Measurements recorded at 1 m (circles), 2 m (triangles), 4 m (crosses), and 8 m (diamonds) relative to SPLs (dB re 20 μPa) at 0.5 m from the loudspeaker. Each symbol represents the average for six calls of a species at a given distance. Abbreviations: Pp: <i>Pelophylax perezi</i>, Lc: <i>Lithobates catesbeianus</i>.</p

Distribution range of <i>Pelophylax perezi</i> and location of the study sites in the Iberian Peninsula.

<p>Grey circles correspond to the 10 x 10 km UTM squares (Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system) with occurrence of <i>P. perezi</i> [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0077312#B136" target="_blank">136</a>,<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0077312#B137" target="_blank">137</a>]. White circles correspond to the study sites: 1) Arimbo, 2) Doñana, 3) El Cabaco, 4) Las Jaras, 5) Navalcarnero, 6) Villasbuenas de Gata, and 7) Zarzalejo.</p

Oscillograms and power spectra of representative advertisement calls for sound propagation experiments: (A) <i>Pelophylax perezi</i> and (B) <i>Lithobates catesbeianus</i>.

<p>Air temperatures during recordings of these calls were 20 °C and 24 °C, respectively. Figures generated with Seewave software (3170 FFT size, 90% overlap, A-weighting; [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0077312#B105" target="_blank">105</a>]). </p

Averages of excess attenuation (dB) of playback calls for the seven study sites.

<p>Measurements for <i>Pelophylax perezi</i> (circles) and <i>Lithobates catesbeianus</i> (squares) emitted over water (open symbols) and over soil (filled symbols) substrates. </p

Scientific journals with publications about descriptions of advertisement calls of Brazilian anurans published between 1960 and 2016.

<p>Scientific journals with publications about descriptions of advertisement calls of Brazilian anurans published between 1960 and 2016.</p

The advertisement calls of Brazilian anurans: Historical review, current knowledge and future directions

<div><p>Advertisement calls are often used as essential basic information in studies of animal behaviour, ecology, evolution, conservation, taxonomy or biodiversity inventories. Yet the description of this type of acoustic signals is far to be completed, especially in tropical regions, and is frequently non-standardized or limited in information, restricting the application of bioacoustics in science. Here we conducted a scientometric review of the described adverstisement calls of anuran species of Brazil, the world richest territory in anurans, to evaluate the amount, standard and trends of the knowledge on this key life-history trait and to identify gaps and directions for future research strategies. Based on our review, 607 studies have been published between 1960 to 2016 describing the calls of 719 Brazilian anuran species (68.8% of all species), a publication rate of 10.6 descriptions per year. From each of these studies, thirty-one variables were recorded and examined with descriptive and inferential statistics. In spite of an exponential rise over the last six decades in the number of studies, described calls, and quantity of published metadata, as revealed by regression models, clear shortfalls were identified with regard to anuran families, biomes, and categories of threat. More than 55% of these species belong to the two richest families, Hylidae or Leptodactylidae. The lowest percentage of species with described calls corresponds to the most diverse biomes, namely Atlantic Forest (65.1%) and Amazon (71.5%), and to the IUCN categories of threat (56.8%), relative to the less-than-threatened categories (74.3%). Moreover, only 52.3% of the species have some of its calls deposited in the main scientific sound collections. Our findings evidence remarkable knowledge gaps on advertisement calls of Brazilian anuran species, emphasizing the need of further efforts in standardizing and increasing the description of anuran calls for their application in studies of the behaviour, ecology, biogeography or taxonomy of the species.</p></div