Comunicação acústica de Sphaenorhynchus prasinus Bokermann, 1973 (Anura: Hylidae)

Abstract

The acoustic signals in frogs are important for communication, being effective in transmitting information. These songs can be influenced by abiotic factors such as temperature and relative humidity, and biotic factors such as the size of the reproductive aggregates, size and body mass of animals. This study aimed to analyze the physical structure of different vocalizations S. prasinus, the social context in which they occurred and the body posture of individuals at the time of issuance of sounds. In addition to checking whether abiotic factors (temperature and relative humidity) and biotic (animal body size, body mass, presence of males and sexually mature females in the neighborhood, temperature, and relative humidity) influence the advertisement call and the organization of seasonal chorus. For recording acoustic data was using a digital recorder, through the internal omnidirectional microphones. Abiotic data were recorded (temperature and relative humidity) and biotic (micro-habitat of vocalization, the margin distance, distance from the nearest individual, data on CRC (cloacal face length) and body mass of individuals). To assist in the identification and differentiation of vocalizations, in addition to behavioral data was conducted experiment of "playback". 200 corners of 22 individuals were analyzed. They classified three types of vocalizations emitted by males of S. prasinus: advertisement call, cutting and territorial. Distinctions were found between the territorial corners with ad and cut. However, there exist differences between cutting corners and announcement, which can be important to avoid the notice of the female presence in the corner site for other males. The average amplitude of the advertisement call was the parameter that got a greater correlation with the presence of male and sexually mature females. With the objective to maintain minimum spacing between neighbors and increase mating success. The corner of the activities peaks occurred in February and March (hottest), which is common in tropical frogs due to ectotermia. Valuable results on acoustic communication and the influence of abiotic and biotic factors on acoustic parameters of sound S. prasinus, contributing information on the natural history of the species, assisting with important elements for conservation of sensitive taxa environmental changes.