DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k98sf7mbx
title: Data from: critical calls: circadian and seasonal periodicity in vocal activity in a breeding colony of Panamanian golden frogs (<em>Atelopus zeteki</em>)

description: The Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) is a critically endangered
 species and is currently believed to survive and reproduce only in human
 care. Panamanian golden frog males are considerably vocal, which may be an
 important component in their successful reproduction, though little is
 currently known about their calls. To better understand the behavior and
 vocal patterns of this species and to improve breeding efforts in the
 assurance colony, we employed individual sound recordings of male
 advertisement calls and acoustic monitoring of a breeding colony to
 investigate variation in the vocal behavior of Panamanian golden frogs.
 The goal was to capture variability within and among frogs as well as
 patterns of periodicity over time. First, the advertisement calls from
 individual male Panamanian golden frogs were recorded, and acoustic
 parameters were analyzed for individual differences. Results suggest that
 male advertisement calls demonstrate individual- and population
 specificity. Second, data collected through a year-long acoustic
 monitoring of the breeding colony were investigated for circadian and
 circannual periodicity. Male vocal activity revealed a circadian
 periodicity entrained by the daily light schedule. Seasonal periodicity
 was also found with highest vocal activities between December and March.
 The finding of a seasonal periodicity is worth noting given that the
 population had been bred for 20 years under constant environmental
 conditions. Finally, results suggest that vocal activity was responsive to
 daily animal care activity. Vocal activity decreased substantially when
 personnel entered the room and engaged in animal husbandry activities. The
 findings illustrate the usefulness of acoustic monitoring to provide
 insight into animal behavior in a zoo setting in a key breeding colony of
 endangered animals, and calling pattern observations may be utilized to
 modify husbandry practices to improve Panamanian golden frog breeding
 success and general care.
description: To investigate whether calls show individual differences, sixteen
 males were randomly selected for recording. Males were singly housed in a
 tank of identical composition and care as their home tank. During the
 single housing experiment, the experimental tank was flanked by tanks
 housing groups of females that were within potential line of sight of the
 males. The singly-housed males were given 24 hours to acclimate in the
 tank. Each male was then sound recorded for 48 hours. Sound was recorded
 with a condenser microphone (AKG C417 L Omnidirectional Lavalier
 Microphone; frequency range 20Hz-20kHz) attached to the lid of the tank.
 The sound signal was recorded at a sample rate of 44.1 kHz directly onto a
 computer using Avisoft Recorder software (Avisoft Bioacoustics, Berlin,
 Germany). Of the sixteen frogs monitored, three frogs
 did not call during observations, leaving us with collections of 20 or
 more call recordings from 13 singly-housed males (6 from the A- and 7 from
 the S-population). For each frog, 20 calls were randomly selected, and
 five acoustic parameters (fundamental frequency, call duration, pulse
 interval, first and second dominant frequency) were measured and analyzed.
 Acoustic analyses were performed using PRAAT sound analysis software
 (version 5.3.80 for Windows; www.praat.org).
 Fundamental frequency was measured in the middle of the call as the
 inverse of an average pulse duration. Call duration was measured as the
 interval between the first and last pulse of a call. Pulse interval was
 measured as the ratio between call duration and the total number of
 pulses. The first and second dominant frequencies were estimated from a
 short 50-ms segment from the middle of a call using linear predictive
 coding (LPC) function in PRAAT.
description: # Data from: critical calls: circadian and seasonal periodicity in vocal
 activity in a breeding colony of Panamanian golden frogs (*Atelopus
 zeteki*) Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.k98sf7mbx](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.k98sf7mbx) ##
 Description of the data and file structure All sounds were recorded with a
 condenser microphone (AKG C417 L Omnidirectional Lavalier Microphone;
 frequency range 20Hz-20kHz) attached to the lid of the tank. The sound
 signal was recorded at a sample rate of 44.1 kHz directly onto a computer
 using Avisoft Recorder software (Avisoft Bioacoustics, Berlin, Germany).
 Sound files are saved as WAV files. A WAV file is a lossless audio format
 that does not compress the original analog audio recording from which it
 is derived. Sound files are present in a ZIP folder: ###
 Thirteen_individual_frogs-11102025.zip This folder contains acoustic
 recording file from 13 individuals which were individually housed. Inside
 the ZIP folder are 13 subfolders. Their names (PGF, Panama Golden Frog)
 represent individual frog IDs. Each folder contains wav files and a log
 file with details on the recording day and time. Subfolder names are: PGF
 6299 PGF 7902 PGF 7905 PGF 8111 PGF 8131 PGF 8552 PGF 8562 PGF 5254 PGF
 7767 PGF 7772 PGF 7885 PGF 8170 PGF 8195 ## Code/software Sound files can
 be opened with sound analysis software. ## Access information Other
 publicly accessible locations of the data: * n/a Data was derived from the
 following sources: * n/a