Acoustic variation in the tree frog Scinax nebulosus (Spix, 1824) (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae)

• Grant number: 22/13259-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• End date: March 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo José Sturaro
• Grantee: Janaina Ribeiro Prado
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas (ICAQF). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Diadema. Diadema , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Bioacoustics is a field in biology responsible for studies on animal's sounds. These sounds are accountable for the signals for their co-specifics and potential predators, which are essential for communication. In anurans, the bioacoustic sounds are mediatory for their behaviour and have an important role in species-specific recognition and consequently for the systematics and taxonomy of the group. Even though a high species diversity of anurans in the Neotropical region, studies on bioacoustics in this group are still punctual with the description of the advertisement call from a specific locality. Furthermore, bioacoustic data on some species are still scarce and some call descriptions have problems, as in the case of S. nebulosus. The few studies about this species have possible conflicts because of different approach analyses or misidentifications of the specimens. Moreover, S. constrictus might be a junior synonym of S. nebulosus. Based on that, in the present study, we will focus on the acoustical variation in Scinax nebulosus. For that, it will be used call records of S. nebulosus and S. constrictus from widely geographic distributed. To infer the acoustical variation between the populations, we will analyze temporal and spectral variables and apply multivariate statistical analyses to compare the calls of S. nebulosus and S. constrictus.