Variação intraespecífica e efeito das infecções endoparasitárias na vocalização e seleção sexual de Physalaemus cuvieri Fitzinger, 1826

Abstract

The acoustic signals emitted by amphibians provide information about location, morphology,and social and reproductive contexts. Among these, the advertisement call, used to attractfemales to mating and to demarcate the territory, is most commonly reported in the literature.Amphibian vocalization can be influenced by different biotic and abiotic factors, which mayreflect intraspecific variation. Thus, the present doctoral thesis had as main objectives (i) toinvestigate the influence of environmental variables and anuran body size one the acousticparameters of three populations of Physalaemus cuvieri from Brazil, (ii) to test howendoparasite infections affect these acoustic parameters and (iii) to evaluate the reproductivesuccess in a population of P. cuvieri located in the municipality of Lavras da Mangabeira, stateof Ceará, northeastern Brazil. We observed that the advertisement call of the studiedpopulations of P. cuvieri consisted of a simple note with a triangular envelope resembling anarrow shape. The three populations exhibited variations in dominant frequency, call duration,and inter-call intervals. Additionally, the anuran body mass and humidity affected the lastacoustic parameter. The dominant frequency was affected by the anuran body size. We alsoobserved that the endoparasite infections only influenced the interval between calls.Additionally, we observed that only the size of the individuals affected reproductive success.This study indicates that different populations of species may exhibit intraspecific variations intheir advertisement calls. While parasitic infections impact the vocalizations of anurans, thesedifferences are not primarily significant in female sexual selection.