Amphibian sound recordings in Brazil are geographically and taxonomically biased and cover less than two-thirds of native species

Abstract

Recordings of animal vocalizations are useful for behavioural, ecological, and taxonomic studies. Herein, we provide an overview of 15 sound collections in Brazilian institutions housing recordings of amphibian calls. For each collection, we assessed the number of recordings and species with audio files deposited. Based on the 25385 recordings, we provide a list of species, highlighting 26 species with undescribed calls. Hylidae (∼48%) and Leptodactylidae (∼21%) were the two most representative families, probably due to the high number of species described for these families. The number of recordings was not related to the age of the collections. We presume that there are some idiosyncratic features of these collections affecting these numbers, such as the collaborators’ network range and the public system for data input, that are more relevant than the collection age. Body size and geographical range size were strong predictors of the number of recordings available. Interestingly, closely related species had a similar number of recordings in the collections, suggesting a phylogenetic bias in sampling effort. More than 30% of native species are not represented in sound collections. Therefore, we emphasize the need for the creation of new bioacoustics collections, especially with more social engagement to obtain new records in currently underrepresented regions.