Skip to main content
Log in

Clinal variation in anuran advertisement calls: basis for acoustic isolation?

  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

The calls of male treefrogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui) were studied along an altitudinal gradient in the Luquillo Mountains in eastern Puerto Rico. The fundamental frequency of each note in the advertisement call was highly negatively correlated with altitude. Although males responded vigorously to playbacks of calls of other males recorded at their own altitude, males at high altitudes responded less frequently to recorded calls of males from low altitudes, and males at low altitudes responded less frequently to recorded calls of males from high altitudes. These results are discussed in relation to potential isolation in contiguous populations of E. coqui.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Blair WF (1958) Mating call in the speciation of anuran amphibians. Am Nat 92:27–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogert CM (1960) The influence of sound on the behavior of amphibians and reptiles. In: Lanyon WE, Tavolga WN (eds) Animal sounds and communication. Am Inst Biol Sci, Washington, DC, pp 137–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Capranica RR, Frishkopf LS, Nevo E (1973) Encoding of geographic dialects in the auditory system of the cricket frog. Science 182:1272–1275

    Google Scholar 

  • Drewry GE (1970) The role of amphibians in the ecology of the Puerto Rican rain forest. In: Puerto Rico Nuclear Center Rain Forest Project Annual Report. Puerto Rico Nuclear Center, San Juan, pp 16–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Drewry GE, Rand AS (1983) Characteristics of an acoustic community: Puerto Rican frogs of the genus Eleutherodactylus. Copeia 1983:941–953

    Google Scholar 

  • Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR (1978) Introduction to Herpetology. WH Freeman and Company, San Francisco, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Jameson DL, Mackey JP, Anderson M (1973) Weather, climate, and external morphology of Pacific tree toads. Evolution 27:285–302

    Google Scholar 

  • Littlejohn MJ (1959) Call differentiation in a complex of seven species of Crinia (Anura: Leptodactylidae). Evolution 13:452–468

    Google Scholar 

  • Littlejohn MJ (1977) Long-range acoustic communication in anurans: an integrated and evolutionary approach. In: Taylor DH, Guttman SI (eds) The reproductive biology of amphibians. Plenum, New York London, pp 263–294

    Google Scholar 

  • McClave JT, Dietrich FH (1982) Statistics. Dellen Publishing Company, Santa Clara, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Narins PM (1982a) Effects of masking noise on evoked calling in the Puerto Rican coqui (Anura: Leptodactylidae). J Comp Physiol 147:439–446

    Google Scholar 

  • Narins PM (1982b) Behavioral refractory period in neotropical treefrogs. J Comp Physiol 148:337–344

    Google Scholar 

  • Narins PM (1983) Synchronous vocal response mediated by the amphibian papilla in a neotropical treefrog: behavioural evidence. J Exp Biol 105:95–105

    Google Scholar 

  • Narins PM, Capranica RR (1976) Sexual differences in the auditory system of the treefrog Eleutherodactylus coqui. Science 192:378–380

    Google Scholar 

  • Narins PM, Capranica RR (1978) Communicative significance of the two-note call of the treefrog Eleutherodactylus coqui. J Comp Physiol 127:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Narins PM, Hurley DD (1982) The relationship between call intensity and function in the Puerto Rican coqui (Anura: Leptodactylidae). Herpetologica 38:287–295

    Google Scholar 

  • Nevo E, Schneider H (1976) Mating cell pattern of green toads in Israel and its ecological correlate. J Zool 178:133–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramer JD, Jenssen TA, Hurst CJ (1983) Size-related variation in the advertisement call of Rana clamitans (Anura: Ranidae), and its effect on conspecific males. Copeia 1983:141–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricklefs RE (1979) Ecology, Second Ed. Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd, Sunbury-on-Thames

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivero JA (1978) Los anfibios y reptiles de Puerto Rico. Univ Puerto Rico Editorial Universitaria, San Juan

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan MJ (1980) Female mate choice in a neotropical frog. Science 209:523–525

    Google Scholar 

  • SAS Institute, Inc (1982) SAS Circle, P.O. Box 8000, Cary, North Carolina 27511

  • Schwart JJ, Wells KD (1984) Interspecific acoustic interactions of the neotropical treefrog Hyla ebraccata. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 14:211–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Wells KD (1977) The social behavior of anuran amphibians. Anim Behav 25:666–693

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiley RH, Richards DG (1978) Physical constraints on acoustic communication in the atmosphere: Implications for the evolution of animal vocalizations. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 3:69–94

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Narins, P.M., Smith, S.L. Clinal variation in anuran advertisement calls: basis for acoustic isolation?. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 19, 135–141 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299948

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299948

Keywords

Navigation