Comparative description of acoustic repertoires of cavies Cavia magna and Cavia intermedia

• Grant number: 13/06606-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2013
• End date: May 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Animal Behavior
• Principal Investigator: Patrícia Ferreira Monticelli
• Grantee: Paula Verzola Olivio
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Communication allows animals to deal with their social relationship, modulating their intra- and interspecific interactions. When other channels are not efficient, sound communication is the only resource through which the animals are able to communicate. As many species make use of this communication channel, it is important that species-specific signals secure recognition. Acoustic communication is a biological phenomenon and, as such, is subject to ontogenetic and evolutionary processes. Among the evolutionary ones are the ecological aspects and the phylogenetic history of the species that still promote adjustments in the signal design. It is therefore expected that two current species that derived from a common ancestor keep characteristics in common. The present study aims to comparatively describe the acoustic repertoire of two species of cavies, Cavia magna and Cavia intermedia, caviomorph rodents of the family Caviidae. For so, recordings will be made of the variety of vocalizations emitted by C. magna and will be analyzed in addition to vocalizations previously obtained from C. intermedia, in research conducted in our laboratory before. The acoustic parameters will be measured and used for the qualitative and quantitative description of each of these signals. The data collected here will be discussed in a broad phylogenetic overview that includes two other species repertoires (C. aperea and C. porcellus). Based on this comparison we can discuss which signals are more flexible and which remained along the evolutionary trajectory of these four distinct species. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

VERZOLA-OLIVIO, PAULA; MONTICELLI, PATRICIA FERREIRA. The acoustic repertoire of Cavia intermedia as a contribution to the understanding of the Caviidae communication system. BIOACOUSTICS-THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SOUND AND ITS RECORDING, v. 26, n. 3, p. 285-304, 2017. (13/06606-8)

VERZOLA-OLIVIO, PAULA; MONTICELLI, PATRICIA FERREIRA. The acoustic repertoire of Cavia intermedia as a contribution to the understanding of the Caviidae communication system. BIOACOUSTICS-THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SOUND AND ITS RECORDING, v. 26, n. 3, p. 20-pg., 2017-01-01. (13/06606-8)