Recovering phylogenetic signal from frog mating calls

Abstract

Goicoechea, N., De La Riva, I. & Padial, J. M. (2010). Recovering phylogenetic signal from frog mating calls.-Zoologica Scripta, 39, 141-154.Few studies have tried to analyse the phylogenetic information contained in frog mating calls. While some of those studies suggest that sexual selection deletes any phylogenetic signal, others indicate that frog calls do retain phylogenetic informative characters. Discordant results can be the outcome of disparate rates of character evolution and evolutionary plasticity of call characters in different groups of frogs, but also the result of applying different coding methods. No study to date has compared the relative performance of different coding methods in detecting phylogenetic signal in calls, hampering thus potential consilience between previous results. In this study, we analyse the strength of phylogenetic signal in 10 mating call characters of 11 related species of frogs belonging to three genera of Andean and Amazonian frogs (Anura: Terrarana: Strabomantidae). We use six quantitative characters (number of notes per call, note length, call length, number of pulses per note, fundamental frequency and dominant frequency) and four qualitative ones (presence ⁄ absence of: pseudopulses, frequency modulation in notes, amplitude modulation in notes and amplitude modulation in pulses). We code quantitative characters using four different coding and scaling methods: (i) gap-coding, (ii) fixed-scale, (iii) step-matrix gapweighting with between-characters scaling, and (iv) step-matrix gap-weighting with between-states scaling. All four coding methods indicate that frog calls contain phylogenetic information. These results suggest that divergent selection on frog mating calls may not always be strong enough to eliminate phylogenetic signal. However, coding methods strongly affect the amount of recoverable information.Step-matrix gap-weighting with between-characters scaling and gap-coding are suggested as the best methods available for coding quantitative characters of frog calls. Also, our results indicate that the arbitrariness in selecting character states and the method for scaling transitions weights, rather than the number of character states, is what potentially biases phylogenetic analyses with quantitative characters.

A Revision of Species Diversity in the Neotropical GenusOreobates(Anura: Strabomantidae), with the Description of Three New Species from the Amazonian Slopes of the Andes

“…Nevertheless, the general structure is common across all the calls of Oreobates described to date. It is also worth noting that Goicoechea et al (2010) discovered phylogenetic information in advertisement calls characters of some Terrarana groups including Oreobates. Theoretically, anatomical structures might restrict call evolution and impede sexual selection the complete extirpation of shared derived features.…”

The use of bioacoustics in anuran taxonomy: theory, terminology, methods and recommendations for best practice

“…Closely related species often have a rather similar general structure in their advertisement calls, reflecting joint evolutionary history (Goicoechea et al 2010). Although there is little experimental evidence, we here posit as an assumption that quantitative differences without overlap of the parameters measured (Fig.…”

Vocal repertory of Scinax littoreus (Anura: Hylidae) with comments on the advertisement call of the Scinax perpusillus species group

“…The use of behavioral traits in phylogenies has increased, and the usefulness of acoustic characters has been emphasized by many authors in the last two decades (e.g., DE QUEIROZ & WEMBERGER 1993, GOICOCHEA et al 2010. In general, advertisement calls of species belonging to the S. perpusillus group have a multipulsed structure (HEYER et al 1990, BRASILEIRO et al 2007, POMBAL & BASTOS 2003, PERES & SIMON 2011, LACERDA et al 2012, SILVA & ALVES-SILVA 2011.…”