Dissertation Research: The Evolution of Acoustical and Functional Diversity of Advertisement calls in Asian and Melanesian Forest Frogs (subfamily Platymantinae)

0073199 Cannatella和棕色亚洲和美拉尼西亚森林青蛙提供了一个很好的模型系统，研究身体大小，生态栖息地，和进化历史上的声音通信系统的多样性的影响。扁螳螂亚科的青蛙，包括大属扁螳螂（估计有45-65个物种），显示出一系列“广告叫声”（通常用于交配），在光谱特征（叫声频率）和时间结构（叫声传递率）方面存在很大差异。可能影响这种声学多样性演变的因素正在由研究生Rafe Brown在德克萨斯大学的教师顾问大卫坎纳特拉博士的指导下进行研究。一个系统发育研究的platymantine青蛙将进行形态和分子（DNA序列）数据，以提供历史框架，建立可能的方向性状变化之间的属的亚系。反过来，这个系统发育框架将被用来研究物种之间的变化，在形态学相关和生理学相关类的呼叫字符。由于Platymantis物种表现出一系列的栖息地偏好，从森林地面到树冠，该属构成了一个理想的系统，用于研究不同的森林栖息地对信号传输和进化的影响。此外，本研究将探讨声囊功能的生物力学特征，并将其与广告呼叫的时间和频谱特征联系起来。

0073199Cannatella and Brown Asian and Melanesian forest frogs provide an excellent model system for studying the effects of body size, ecological habitat, and evolutionary history on diversity of acoustic communication systems. Frogs of the subfamily Platymantinae, including the large genus Platymantis (with an estimated 45-65 species), show a range of "advertisement calls" (often for mating) differing widely in spectral character (call frequencies) and temporal structure (rates of call delivery). Factors that may have influenced the evolution of this acoustic diversity are under study by graduate student Rafe Brown, with guidance from faculty adviser Dr. David Cannatella at the University of Texas. A phylogenetic study of platymantine frogs will be conducted using both morphological and molecular (DNA sequences) data to provide the historical framework for establishing the likely direction of character change among the sublineages of the genus. In turn, this phylogenetic framework will be employed to study variation among species in morphology-related and physiology-related classes of call characters. Because species of Platymantis exhibit a range of habitat preferences, from forest floor to the canopy, the genus constitutes an ideal system for studying the effects of constraints posed by different forest habitats on signal transmission and evolution. Also, the study will explore biomechanic features of vocal sac functioning and relate these to temporal and spectral characters of the advertisement calls in the field.