Grant Winners
2009 Conference Travel Grant
A $500 conference travel grant was awarded to Ms. Kris Kaiser, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at UCLA, to present her lecture entitled "When sounds collide: Effects of anthropogenic noise on frog calling behavior" at the Joint Meeting of Herpetologists and Ichthyologists in Portland Oregon July 22-27, 2009.
Title: When sounds collide: Effects of anthropogenic noise on frog calling behavior
Authors: Kristine Kaiser, Menemsha Alloush, Robin M. Jones, Susanne Marczak, Katherine S. Martineau, Mark V. Oliva, Peter M. Narins
Abstract
Differential susceptibility of amphibians to habitat degradation and fragmentation is not well understood. Existing studies of amphibian response to anthropogenic change typically correlate with or model life history traits; few relevant behavioral data exist. Among the most poorly understood effects of habitat change are those resulting from an increased complexity of the acoustic environment, e.g., from the presence of anthropogenic noise. Here we test the hypothesis that car engine noise differentially affects disturbance-tolerant and disturbance-sensitive species. We carried out playback experiments with anthropogenic noise on seven frog species in Belize. We also chose one focal species, Dendropsophus microcephalus, to determine if this noise affected chorus tenure for individuals, or length of chorus. We used mark-recapture at two ponds: one where noise was broadcast each night and one where no noise was ever played (control). We found that species respond to noise differentially, with the most forest-dwelling species being least likely to call in the face of noise. Chorus tenure and number of times recaptured were both significantly greater at the control pond. Lengths of nightly chorus were equivalent at the beginning of the study, but were significantly different after two months. Taken together, these results suggest that the acoustic landscape acts as any other environmental parameter, shaping which species will persist, and which species may perish. While frogs are known to employ a suite of mechanisms to cope with biotic noise, this is the first investigation demonstrating chorus-level effects of anthropogenic acoustic disturbances in amphibians.
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