The anuran calling repertoire in the light of social context

• DOI: 10.1007/s10211-014-0194-4
• Publication Date: 2014-06-03T09:40:45Z
• Authors: Luís F. Toledo; Itamar A. Martins; Daniel P. Bruschi; Michel A. Passos; César Alexandre; Célio F. B. Haddad
• Keywords: 0106 biological sciences; 01 natural sciences

Frogs are immediately associated to their conspic- uous vocalizations emitted during the breeding season. There- fore, many scientists were inspired to study their acoustic communication. Nowadays, many types of calls are described and we felt the need of reviewing the terminology currently and historically applied. As a result, we proposed the classifi- cation of anuran vocalization into three major categories: reproductive, aggressive, and defensive calls. These catego- ries are subdivided according to the social context of emission mostly reflecting also acoustic differences among call types. Some call types are here proposed to be synonymies of the mostly used and inclusive terms. We also suggest terminologies for basic bioacoustical analyses, mostly applied incalldescriptions. Furthermore,we present cases of complex calls, including call gradation. Finally, based on novel data (such as anunusual caseof juvenile vocalizations), wediscuss situations in which it is difficult to classify call types, reflecting the need of experimental studies.