Treefrog lateral line as a mean of individual identification through visual and software assisted methodologies

Abstract

Background: Ecological research often requires monitoring of a specific individual over an extended period of time. To enable non-invasive re-identification, consistent external marking is required. Treefrogs possess lateral lines for crypticity. While these patterns decrease predator detection, they also are individual specific patterns. In this study, we tested the use of lateral lines in captive and wild populations of Dryophytes japonicus as natural markers for individual identification. For the purpose of the study, the results of visual and software assisted identifications were compared. Results: In normalized laboratory conditions, a visual individual identification method resulted in a 0.00 rate of false-negative identification (RFNI) and a 0.0068 rate of false-positive identification (RFPI), whereas Wild-ID resulted in RFNI = 0.25 and RFNI = 0.00. In the wild, female and male data sets were tested. For both data sets, visual identification resulted in RFNI and RFPI of 0.00, whereas the RFNI was 1.0 and RFPI was 0.00 with Wild-ID. Wild-ID did not perform as well as visual identification methods and had low scores for matching photographs. The matching scores were significantly correlated with the continuity of the type of camera used in the field. Conclusions: We provide clear methodological guidelines for photographic identification of D. japonicus using their lateral lines. We also recommend the use of Wild-ID as a supplemental tool rather the principal identification method when analyzing large datasets.

The Green Toad Example: A Comparison of Pattern Recognition Software

“…Differences between data sets could include distance to the animals (e.g. photos of giraffes from the distance (13) and close-up pictures of tree frogs (14)), background of photos and quality of cameras used. In long-term data sets picture quality and attributes might vary drastically, therefore, in many instances, scientists prepare the photos before comparing the patterns, for example by cropping the pictures to only show the region of interest (ROI).…”

Using the 2020 global pandemic as a springboard to highlight the need for amphibian conservation in eastern Asia

“…comm). Other methods relying on natural colour patterns for individual identification could also be trialled, such as seen on Bombina species ( Gollmann and Gollmann, 2011 ) and Hylidae ( Kim et al, 2017 ).…”

Efficiency of photo identification of inguinal color patterns of Pithecopus gonzagai (Anura: Phyllomedusidae) from northeastern Brazil

“…Inguinal color patterns of Pithecopus gonzagai can be used to identify individual frogs, thereby allowing the implementation of photographic identification met ods is a identification without computer assistance may be more accurate than some computer-assisted programs (Kim et al 2017); however this technique requires so much time to analyze a large database, that it is practically unfeasible (Markowitz et al 2003, Carter et al 2014. Thus, many authors recommend its use as a supplement to computerassisted systems of pattern recognition (Gamble et al 2008, Del Lama et al 2011.…”

“…compose the Arboranae lineage, which includes primarily arboreal species (Duellman et al 2016). Many arboranan species ave distinctive co or patterns on t e an s groins, or legs; these patterns do not change and thus, are suitable to track individuals in markrecapture studies (e.g., Kenyon et al 2009, Del Lama et al 2011, Kim et al 2017. We choose the arboreal phyllomedusid Pithecopus gonzagai Andrade, Haga, Ferreira, Recco-Pimentel, Toledo, and Bruschi, 2020[previously included with P. nordestinus (Caramaschi, 2006) (Caramaschi 2006, Vilaça et al 2011, Andrade et al 2020] as a target species because its morphological, ecological, and ethological features make it an excellent model for behavioral studies (Brasileiro et al 2020(Brasileiro et al , 2021.…”