The importance of amphibian bioacoustics is widely documented in ecological, taxonomical and evolutionary studies, as calls might act as a primary mechanism of reproductive isolation. The influence of air temperature and male size on the variation of the advertisement calls in anurans is widely recognized but still insufficiently analyzed in Brazilian species.Our goals were to (1) describe the advertisement call of Aplastodiscus albosignatus (Lutz & Lutz, 1938), (2) test the influence of temperature and body size on its acoustic signals and (3) evaluate the variation of within and between-male acoustic signals. Advertisement calls of A. albosignatus consist of an unpulsed note with four harmonics. In most cases, the dominant frequency is the third harmonic but, in some calls, it was the minimum frequency (first harmonic). The average duration of calls was 0.191 s, the interval between calls was 2.08 s and the repetition rate was 33 calls per minute. On average, the minimum frequency was 550.15 Hz, the maximum frequency was 3531.70 Hz and the third harmonic was 2498.9 Hz. To evaluate the effect of air temperature, and body size on the variation of call parameters, we performed generalized linear models. The most explanatory model for spectral parameters was temperature plus body size. Concerning temporal variables, the best model that explains the variation in call duration was body size, while for the interval between calls was air temperature. The maximum frequency and the frequency of the third harmonic had little variation in the calls of both the same male and different males. Thus, these parameters were considered important in species recognition.
In this study, we observed that burrows of Rhinella dorbignyi (Duméril & Bibron, 1841) are distributed in a non-random manner in the habitat, suggesting a microhabitat selection for digging. This conclusion was based on a characterization of 36 burrows and surrounding micro-habitat. We established a 1 m x 1 m quadrat with the burrow in its central point (n=36) to measure the percentage (density) and the average heights of grasses, herbs, and shrubs. All measurements were repeated in two unused quadrats (without burrows) to evaluate the available microhabitat (n=72). The burrows are built in specific areas of the habitat with a higher percentage of grass, taller herbs, lower density of shrubs and low shaded sites than the founded at control sites. Based on three-dimensional models of the interior of the burrow (n=15), we observed that all of them were constructed with an elliptical opening that opens into a narrow channel perpendicular to the ground. Channels had a mean maximum diameter of 38 mm and a mean minimum diameter of 18 mm. The mean length of the burrows is 182 mm, and the mean volume is 95 mL.
1Morphology and diet are key factors in the ecology of organisms, determining aspects of 2 natural history and evolution of the species. In this work, we evaluated the diet-3 morphology relationship in an anuran population, measuring the influence of 4 morphological traits on the variation in the diet of individuals of Leptodactylus latrans. 5 For this purpose, we collected individuals from a natural grassland habitat in southern 6 Brazil. We analyzed the stomach content of individuals and consumed food items were 7 classified up to the level of order. We also measured four morphological traits per 8 individual of L. latrans: snout-vent length, relative limb length, distance between eyes 9 and relative mouth width. We applied Linear Mixed Effect Models to evaluate the 10 relationship of anuran morphological traits, number of prey taxa and volume of consumed 11 prey. We tested the hypothesis that the configuration of predator morphological traits 12 determines both the number of taxa and the volume of consumed prey. Our results 13 indicate that individuals of L. latrans with larger body size consume a larger volume of 14 prey and mouth width is directly and positively associated with the number of consumed 15 taxa. In the same way that body size seems to define the capacity to ingest a large number 16 of prey items, mouth width could be a limiting factor in prey selection. The capacity to 17 consume a large prey volume could be an advantage in unpredictable environments, 18 especially those with great daily thermal amplitudes such as the subtropical Brazilian 19 grasslands. 20
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