ATMOSPHERIC AND UNDERWATER PROPAGATION OF BULLFROG VOCALIZATIONS

ABSTRACT Male bullfrogs vocalize while partially submerged in shallow freshwater ponds. This imposes two potential propagation pathways, atmospheric and underwater, on transmission of their communication sounds. Propagation of pure tones, amplitude modulated (AM) broadband noise and natural calls was measured in air and underwater at three bullfrog breeding sites. In air, propagation losses were consistent with spherical spreading. No excess attenuation was observed for any tone frequency at any site. Both temporal envelope modulations and spectral cues are available to conspecific receivers at biologically realistic distances. The bullfrog's advertisement call is thus well adapted for transmission in air at the air/water interface. Underwater signal propagation differed at the three sites, consistent with substrate effects. Tone propagation showed the high-pass frequency window characteristic of shallow water. Broadband signals underwent propagation losses greater than expected by cylindrical spreading. ...

[1]  T. Hetherington,et al.  Biophysics of underwater hearing in anuran amphibians. , 1982, The Journal of experimental biology.

[2]  D. D. Yager.  UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION IN THE AFRICAN PIPID FROG XENOPUS BOREALIS , 1992 .

[3]  M. Ryan,et al.  THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SELECTION IN INTRASPECIFIC DIVERGENCE OF MATE RECOGNITION SIGNALS IN THE CRICKET FROG, ACRIS CREPITANS , 1990, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[4]  R. Fay,et al.  Underwater Hearing in the Frog, Rana Catesbeiana , 1981 .

[5]  J. E. Piercy,et al.  Outdoor sound propagation over ground of finite impedance , 1976 .

[6]  Peter H. Rogers,et al.  Underwater Sound as a Biological Stimulus , 1988 .

[7]  R. R. Capranica,et al.  The Vocal Repertoire of the Bullfrog (Rana Catesbeiana) , 1968 .

[8]  T. G. Forrest,et al.  SOUND PROPAGATION IN SHALLOW WATER: IMPLICATIONS FOR ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION BY AQUATIC ANIMALS , 1993 .

[9]  A. Simmons,et al.  Transient "deafness" accompanies auditory development during metamorphosis from tadpole to frog. , 1997, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[10]  J. W. Gerald.  SOUND PRODUCTION DURING COURTSHIP IN SIX SPECIES OF SUNFISH (CENTRARCHIDAE) , 1971, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[11]  M L Lenhardt,et al.  Shallow-water propagation of the toadfish mating call. , 1983, Comparative biochemistry and physiology. A, Comparative physiology.

[12]  J. D. Crawford,et al.  Sound production and reproductive ecology of strongly acoustic fish in Africa: Pollimyrus isidori, Mormyridae , 1997 .

[13]  Arie Schuijf,et al.  Models of Acoustic Localization , 1981 .

[14]  A. Megela-Simmons.  Behavioral vocal response thresholds to mating calls in the bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana. , 1984, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[15]  U. Ingard.  On the Reflection of a Spherical Sound Wave from an Infinite Plane , 1951 .

[16]  William A. Kuperman,et al.  Optimum frequency of propagation in shallow water environments , 1983 .

[17]  D. Aylor.  NOISE REDUCTION BY VEGETATION AND GROUND , 1972 .

[18]  A. Purgue,et al.  Tympanic sound radiation in the bullfrog Rana catesbeiana , 1997, Journal of Comparative Physiology A.

[19]  S. Emlen.  Territoriality in the Bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana , 1968 .

[20]  S. A. Perrill,et al.  Responses To Conspecific Advertisement Calls in the Green Frog (Rana Clamitans) and Their Role in Male-Male Communication , 1996 .

[21]  D. Webb,et al.  ORIENTATION BY MEANS OF LONG RANGE ACOUSTIC SIGNALING IN BALEEN WHALES * , 1971, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[22]  Charles H. Brown.  The active space of blue monkey and grey-cheeked mangabey vocalizations , 1989, Animal Behaviour.

[23]  P. Welch.  The use of fast Fourier transform for the estimation of power spectra: A method based on time averaging over short, modified periodograms , 1967 .

[24]  Charles H. Brown,et al.  Habitat acoustics and primate communication , 1986, American journal of primatology.

[25]  A. Popper,et al.  Sound localization by the Hawaiian squirrelfishes, Myripristis berndti and M. argyromus. , 1973, Animal behaviour.

[26]  T. Wiewandt.  Vocalization, Aggressive Behavior, and Territoriality in the Bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana , 1969 .

[27]  Robert J. Urick,et al.  Principles of underwater sound , 1975 .

[28]  R. R. Capranica,et al.  The evoked vocal response of the bullfrog- A study of communication by sound , 1966 .

[29]  T. G. Forrest.  From Sender to Receiver: Propagation and Environmental Effects on Acoustic Signals , 1994 .

[30]  K. Wells,et al.  THE EFFECT OF VEGETATION ON THE PROPAGATION OF CALLS IN THE NEOTROPICAL FROG CENTROLENELLA FLEISCHMANNI , 1982 .

[31]  E. Morton.  Ecological Sources of Selection on Avian Sounds , 1975, The American Naturalist.