Research Training Program

Yana R. Reid
Haskell Indian Nations University
Lawrence, Kansas

Ron Heyer, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
Department of Systematic Biology
Division of Reptiles and Amphibians

"As an aspiring scientist, participating in this program was by far the single most outstanding experience of my life."

Analysis of Advertisement Calls in the Genetically Diverse Frog taxon currently known as Leptodactylus fuscus

The frog Leptodactylus fuscus is found throughout much of South America in open and disturbed habitats. Previous studies of genetic differentiation in L. fuscus demonstrated that there was genetic partitioning among population units consistent with multiple species, rather than a single species, characterizing the unit currently understood as L. fuscus. Data were analyzed for 32 individual frogs from 24 localities throughout the distributional range of Leptodactylus fuscus. Data was taken on 10 calls for each frog (for those recordings with 10 or more calls). The data taken were call rate, call duration, carrier frequency, beginning frequency, ending frequency, frequency sweep, and temporal characterization of the waveform. Call rate, call duration, carrier frequency, ending frequency, and frequency sweep demonstrated a correlation with temperature and these parameters were standardized to 25C for further analysis. Beginning frequency did not demonstrate a correlation with temperature. Multidimensional scaling analysis of these data indicated that frogs from the same locality showed the same kind of variation as frogs from different localities. Thus, the advertisement call data support the single species hypothesis in Leptodaactylus fuscus. This study demonstrates that speciation in frogs is not always accompanied by differentiation of advertisement calls.

This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, Award Number DBI-9820303.