The function of advertisement call in the acoustic structure of treefrog males within natural choruses

• Grant number: 24/21920-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Animal Behavior
• Principal Investigator: Cinthia Aguirre Brasileiro
• Grantee: Guilherme Augusto Alves
• Supervisor: Camille Desjonqueres
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas (ICAQF). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Diadema. Diadema , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Laboratoire D'Écologie Alpine, France
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/10166-5 - Beyond sexual attraction: testing the aggressive function of advertisement calls in Neotropical frogs, BP.PD

Abstract

The advertisement call is the most conspicuous and frequent call emitted by anurans during the breeding season. This call is primarily associated with reproduction, as males use it to attract potential mates. However, it also plays a key role in regulating intrasexual agonistic interactions. Through this call, males can assess the physical characteristics of neighboring males, mediate aggressive interactions, maintain distance between males, and protect territories. This call is characterized by various spectral and temporal properties that encode important information, and that receivers use to assess the calling male. However, studies addressing which properties are critical in this social context remain scarce. In the present project, we propose to test the role of the advertisement call and its spectral and temporal properties in regulating the chorus structure of Boana albomarginata by combining two approaches to test the influence of male-male social interactions: (i) Passive Acoustic Monitoring and (ii) Experiments with controlled acoustic stimuli. Using acoustic indices as proxies for the density of calling males, we will examine the temporal dynamics of B. albomarginata chorus. We expect choruses with higher density of calling males to exhibit longer durations and remain acoustically active for a greater number of nights during the breeding season than choruses with lower acoustic density under the same environmental conditions. This first step will establish the reference state for typical choruses which we can then compare to choruses under various experimental conditions. Additionally, we will broadcast calls with varying features to simulate males in different conditions joining the chorus. The main aim is to test whether males in the chorus adjust their vocalizations. We expect males to increase call rate and decrease dominant frequency in response to low-quality signals, resulting in denser choruses, while exhibiting the opposite response when encountering high-quality signals, resulting in less dense choruses. Both approaches will provide insights into how male signals mediate male-male interactions and what chorus structure emerges as a result of these interactions.¿