The acoustic dimension of biological communities: Evolutionary and Ecological structuring processes

Abstract

Acoustic signals are cues for multiple interactions involving signalers and the destined receivers. Multisource background noise impairs detection, causing deleterious effects on species fitness due to signal interference and confusion. Given the important role in competition and reproduction success, character displacement on acoustic signals can emerge based on the role of background noise components as selective pressures. As a result, species can partition the acoustic space in the spectral and/or temporal domains to minimize signal overlap. Moreover, environmental structure can also act as a filter for signal propagation, leading to convergence of signal characteristics. Another source of potential convergence can emerge from interspecific interactions in communication networks, especially among ecologically similar species. To elucidate the role of these processes on the structuring of the acoustic space of natural communities, we propose to use anuran communities of the Pantanal wetlands. We expect a combination of acoustic structure and phylogenetic relatedness for each scenario: i) partitioning of the acoustic space leads to high acoustic variability and low species relatedness; ii) acoustic adaptation to the environment leads to low acoustic variability and no structure on relatedness; iii) species interaction in communication networks leads to low acoustic variability and high species relatedness. We will also investigate whether acoustic differences among species can influence species assembly. Our proposal is innovative and adds to novel approaches concerned with multiple biodiversity dimension, which in turn can help on the understanding of how natural communities are organized.