The vocal repertoire of marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) on a Hungarian Danube island and implications for future research and conservation

Internet publication

In the past decade, extreme weather and anthropogenic habitat destruction led to considerable declines in amphibian populations around the world. One amphibian species affected by such changes are marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus), water frogs found across Europe and Western Asia. Characterizing the vocal repertoire of marsh frogs may be helpful for their effective conservation; however, little systematic research has been done in this field. The current study aimed to identify and describe the vocal repertoire of marsh frogs on a Danube river island by combining quantitative analyses using stationary acoustic recordings with on-site qualitative field observations on the context of call emissions. Eight distinct call types were identified and evaluated using principal component analysis and discriminant function analysis based on maximum frequency. The call types were then compared to marsh frog vocalizations identified by previous studies in other geographic regions, and implications of the results were discussed. This study may prompt further research investigating potential semantic associations of anuran vocalizations, common patterns in amphibian communication, and the effects of anthropogenic noise on anuran vocal repertoires. Results of the study may also assist in the design of conservation-oriented technical devices for the identification of marsh frogs based on their acoustic characteristics.

Authors: Li, C; Hending, D

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Not peer reviewed
• Publisher: OSF Preprints
• Host title: Center for Open Science
• Publication date: 2024-12-26
• DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/kzqgy
• Language: English
• Keywords: amphibian; marsh frog; animal communication; urban wild life; acoustics