Clinal variation in anuran advertisement calls: basis for acoustic isolation?

Abstract

The calls of male treefrogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui) were studied along an altitudinal gradient in the Luquillo Mountains in eastern Puerto Rico. The fundamental frequency of each note in the advertisement call was highly negatively correlated with altitude. Although males responded vigorously to playbacks of calls of other males recorded at their own altitude, males at high altitudes responded less frequently to recorded calls of males from low altitudes, and males at low altitudes responded less frequently to recorded calls of males from high altitudes. These results are discussed in relation to potential isolation in contiguous populations of E. coqui.