For many frog species that aggregate around ponds or streams, chorus attendance, the percentage of time or nights a given male is present and actively calling at an aggregation, is the strongest documented predictor of inter‐male variation in reproductive success in the wild. Males are, thus, thought to compete via endurance rivalry, where available energetic reserves and individual physiology interact to determine chorus tenure. Frogs often exhibit territorial behavior within these aggregations, and territorial status is likely to influence a male's rate of energy expenditure. While males of several anuran species have been shown to hold territories across nights, it is not well understood whether such calling site fidelity is correlated with chorus attendance or mating success. Using subdermal RFID (PIT) tags to minimize disturbance to chorus structure, we quantified site fidelity, chorus attendance, and mating success for all male red‐eyed treefrogs (Agalychnis callidryas) within a breeding aggregation in Panama across 50 consecutive nights. We found that nearly half of these males held territories across nights, that this cross‐night territorial behavior was highly correlated with chorus attendance, and that chorus attendance was, in turn, the strongest predictor of male mating success. Males were most faithful to calling sites containing vegetation contiguous with adjacent sites and were more likely to remain at a site if they were successful in acquiring a mate there on the previous night. To our knowledge, this is the first study linking male site fidelity to chorus attendance and mating success in anurans. While female mate choice is an established driver of lineage diversification and the evolution of sexual signals, agonistic interactions between males at breeding aggregations are well‐documented from a wide range of anuran taxa. The relationship between male–male interactions and mating success deserves broader research attention among anuran species.
Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) populations have declined drastically since 1970 because of continued destruction and fragmentation of their habitat. Although they are known to shift their home ranges because of environmental degradation, it is unknown how solar arrays impact Eastern Box Turtles. From 2011–2018, we collected data on Eastern Box Turtle movement and occupancy in a 79-ha solar farm. The solar farm is divided into six fenced areas, each containing wildlife openings for movement of terrestrial fauna every 23 m around the fenced solar arrays. We hypothesized that the solar arrays changed the home range sizes of turtles that interacted with the field. We fitted 41 Eastern Box Turtles with radio transmitters and tracked their locations twice per week in June–August from 2011–2018. Seventeen turtles had home ranges that overlapped with the solar arrays whereas 24 turtles had home ranges that never interacted with the solar arrays. We calculated home range sizes and tested for differences between overlapping and nonoverlapping groups. We further considered if the number of observations within the solar farm impacted home range size and displacement. We found that Eastern Box Turtles that used the solar farm exhibited 55–83% larger home ranges on average than turtles in natural habitats, but there was no significant association of home range size with the amount of time observed within the solar farm. Finally, we discuss strategies to mitigate negative impacts of solar farm development on turtles.
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