Nightly patterns of calling activity in anuran assemblages of the Cerrado, Brazil

Abstract

Anurans living in species-rich assemblages may experience acoustic niche overlap. To deal with potential masking interference during reproductive activity, species can present acoustic partitioning based on differences in calling period. Studies addressing this question in tropical assemblages have mainly focused on the seasonal scale, and little is known about nightly variation in calling. Here, we reported on phenology and abundance of five tropical anuran assemblages at both seasonal and daily scale and tested the effects of temperature and relative humidity on calling activity patterns of 19 species. Based on 420 hourly acoustic surveys, an overall peak of calling activity in between the first and fourth hour after sunset was identified by Rayleigh’s circular test, with a gradual decrease until sunrise. This nightly pattern was followed by most of the species in the assemblages and similarly observed for species presence and abundance of calling males. The acoustic niche overlap was greater than expected by chance within the assemblages, while no pattern of coincidence or segregation was found for the syntopic congeneric species (Dendropsophus, Boana and Leptodactylus). Moreover, the calling activity of the assemblages, measured as richness and diversity of calling species, was negatively influenced by air and water temperature and positively by relative humidity. Thus, climatic variables act as driver factors to determine calling activity and reproduction of anurans at daily scale. The absence of a segregation pattern at the assembly or genus levels in the calling activity over time indicates that the use of the acoustic temporal niche is not a limiting resource for Cerrado anurans.