Introduction to My Wood Frog Vocalization Experiment

[frogluver]

Here it is, the introduction and update on my Wood frog vocalization experiment! I know it’s a lengthy post :P, but I hope you all enjoy! Thanks for reading .

Experiment Wood Frog Vocalizations
By Autumn

Quawk quawk! Every May to April here in Fairbanks, Alaska you can hear the melodic sounds of the vocalizing male Wood frogs (Rana sylvatica). It’s one of the sure signs that spring is here and that summer is upon us. Despite the fact that it’s cold outside and snow may still be on the ground, it’s the frogs’ breeding season and anywhere from a week to three weeks you can hear the duck like calls of these secretive frogs. And then you almost never hear them calling again until next spring. Why do these frogs rarely call outside of the breeding season or if they do on occasion, what’s the reason? The cause is not entirely known and I am interested in finding out.

My curiosity was aroused on this topic a few years back, when I first captured four Wood frogs: 2 adult females, 1 adult male, and 1 juvenile. My primary goal in collecting these frogs was to note and observe their feeding behavior. However, that soon changed when my juvenile matured into a male, and thus started to croak. I was confused as to why the little guy started to vocalize….Was he unsure about the noises he heard, i.e. the vacuum, radio, or TV, thinking they were other frogs? Was he practicing his chorus for the mating season? Were the barometric pressure, temperature, and humidity levels optimum for vocalizing? I literally had no idea and wanted to find an answer. I was unable to design an experiment at the time, but through persistence, patience, and careful planning, I was able to acquire a permit to carry out an experiment involving six wood frogs.

The objective of this experiment is to stimulate vocalizations in captive male Wood frogs in response to previously recorded choruses. Furthermore, I want to compare the characteristics and patterns of previously recorded Wood frog vocalizations with calls stimulated in captivity by adult male Wood frogs and juvenile male Wood frogs that had been captured prior to being exposed to a mating season. For juveniles that turn out to be females, they too will be exposed to the same recorded choruses as the males and will instead be tested for phonotaxis, or the movement of an organism in relation to a sound source.

The experiment began with the collection of approximately 5 Wood Frogs (three adults and two juveniles), that have been separated into two 10 gallon terrariums according to life stage, i.e. the adults in one tank and the juveniles in the other. Originally I designed the experiment to include 3 juveniles in addition to the 3 adult males. However, during the quarantine process, several frogs died resulting in subsequent collections. The last collection, which was made to find a juvenile, failed as it was too late in the season to find frogs: they were in the pre-hibernation stage. To reduce as much stress as possible for the frogs I have successfully captured and quarantined, the tank set ups have been designed to mimic the Wood frogs habitat. The terrarium design is as follows (Bartlett 1996): An inch layer of river rock and screening material were placed at the bottom of the tanks to serve as a filtration system for the terrestrial vegetation. Heavy items, i.e. rocks or logs, were placed on top of the river rock and set firmly in place, to prevent injuries to the frogs. Approximately, 2 inches of topsoil was added on top of the river rock. Moss, ferns, and other terrestrial plants, gathered from the site collection, were planted in the soil. The temperature in the housing tanks is being kept between 65-75 F and the humidity between 60-70%. The third terrarium (the testing tank) was set up as described above; however, the temperature and amount of light are to be varied.

After acclimating to their new surroundings for a time, the Wood frogs will then be separated from their terrariums one by one, and placed in a separate temperature and light controlled terrarium for one week, the testing tank. Here, the frogs will be exposed to either Test A conditions or Test B conditions. During Test A, each frog will be tested under conditions that resemble the Wood frog’s breeding season during late April and early May. The terrarium light will be left on for 10 hours and the temperature will be kept at 40 F-50 F. This data is the average temperature and daylight hours for Fairbanks during the Wood frogs’ mating season. During Test B, each frog will tested under normal living conditions, with the temperatures between 70 F-80 F and the light left on for approximately 15 hours. For both tests, the frogs will be exposed to a series of recorded Wood frog vocalizations. These vocalizations will be played on a stereo near the frog’s tank between 11 am and 1 pm and between 10 pm and midnight. It is important to note that Wood frog vocalization activity is most active at these times during the mating season (Klein 2009). Any changes to behavior, i.e. responding to the vocalizations or showing signs of phonotaxis (Bee 2007), will be recorded or documented. The vocalizations will be recorded on a hand held recorder and calls and notes will be subsequently be analyzed with Sound Ruler (Gridi-Papp 2002-2007). The calls recorded during the experiment will be compared with the Wood frog chorus recorded earlier this year. Once testing is complete, the frogs will be placed back into their normal living conditions.

It is also significant to note that a third test, Test C, may be added to the experimental design. Over the past 7 years of observing Wood frog behaviors, I have noticed that male Woodies tend to respond to certain notes in music. If so, instead of Wood frog vocalizations recordings that the frogs will be exposed to, the amphibians will instead be exposed to different genres of music, in particular classical music. The conditions will be set similar to Test B. If this test is unable to be carried out, it will be tested at a later time and with a future experiment.

What are my predictions on my experiment? Under Test A conditions, I predict that the male Wood frogs will either respond with calls of their own, will display phonotaxis, or both. For the juveniles, I predict that phonotaxis will be possible; however, I have doubts that they will display any sign of recognition. Under Test B conditions, I predict that the adult males will not respond with calls of their own, but instead might display phonotaxis. As for the juveniles, I believe they will display the same predictions as Test A. If needed, the experiment will be adjusted accordingly.


References
Bartlett, R.D. and Patricia. Frogs, Toads, and Treefrogs. New York: Barron’s, 1996.
---. Terrarium and Cage Construction and Care. New York: Barron’s, 1999

Bee, Mark A. 2007. Selective phonotaxis by male wood frogs (Rana sylvatica)
to the sound of a chorus. Behav Ecol Sociogiol 61: 955-966

Gridi-Papp, M. 2002-2007. Software Sound Ruler version 0.9.6.0. Available in:
http://soundruler.sf.net

Klein, Susan C. “Alaska Wood Frog Monitoring Project: Where are the Wood Frogs?” 2009.
Alaska Wood Frog Monitoring Project. 29 Oct. 2009
http://aknhp.uaa.alaska.edu/zoology/Zoology_frogs.htm

“phonotaxis.” A Dictionary of Biology. 2004 Encyclopedia.com. 31 Aug. 2010
<http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

[frogluver]

When I complete the experiment, I'll also share my results with you all !

[Sublime]

Wow! That is a lot of information to process. You have got me interested in this experiment now; I'm curious to find out what type of behavior they will display during phonotaxis. I predict the males will only vocalize in test A like you, but that's just my opinion and we'll soon find out right ? Since they're secretive and the males don't display territorial dominance, wouldn't it be logical they only vocalize during breeding season in the right weather conditions? That's weird if they do vocalize in Test C for the different type of genres of music though.

I really think you should write up a care sheet proposal on these guys, not only was your introduction concise and legible... It also got me interested in the project even though I'm not very fond of these frogs. Even though they're not very popular in the pet trade and not readily available; I still think it would be a cool care sheet to read over and get information on this secretive species. There's always room for more, right? Like for another pacman maybe for you to do a vocalization experiment with them.

Anyways, good job... Ready to hear the results.

[frogluver]

Wow! That is a lot of information to process. You have got me interested in this experiment now; I'm curious to find out what type of behavior they will display during phonotaxis. I predict the males will only vocalize in test A like you, but that's just my opinion and we'll soon find out right ? Since they're secretive and the males don't display territorial dominance, wouldn't it be logical they only vocalize during breeding season in the right weather conditions? That's weird if they do vocalize in Test C for the different type of genres of music though.

I really think you should write up a care sheet proposal on these guys, not only was your introduction concise and legible... It also got me interested in the project even though I'm not very fond of these frogs. Even though they're not very popular in the pet trade and not readily available; I still think it would be a cool care sheet to read over and get information on this secretive species. There's always room for more, right? Like for another pacman maybe for you to do a vocalization experiment with them.

Anyways, good job... Ready to hear the results.

Thank you Mark! Hehe, I tend to have a contagious effect on others when I get to talking about experiments and frogs .

That's I thought! I know and I would really like to carry out Test C, I just have to check a couple things with the local ADF&G (Alaska Department of Fish&Game) office about my permit submission, before I carry it out. Music seemingly has a weird effect on frogs, other than the fact that it can make them vocalize. Just the other day, my Wood frogs' activity levels increased greatly due to an change in the tank's humidity. They were so active, that I was afraid they would hurt themselves by continuously hopping into the terrarium glass too many times. My sister was joking and said that maybe if she put on some soft piano music, that they would calm down. When she played the music, can you guess what happened.......they all settled down and one of them even croaked !

Yup, there's always room for one more! Actually, I have had several users on here suggest that I write up a proposal and I'm currently working on one .

I'll definitely let you know the results!! Thanks again!

[Sublime]

Haha, that's crazy that the piano music actually worked; I would of bet money that wouldn't work. Now you know another way to calm them down besides when there is artificial environment fluctuations. Thank your sister on that . So I'll be looking forward to two 'projects' coming from you. It gets better and better, lol. No problem, by the way showing interest in your research.

[GrifTheGreat]

It's definitely an interesting study. I don't know much about wood frogs, but I've heard several pacman keepers say that their frogs respond in various ways to different types of music. Although I have never had any vocalization from music, I have definitely witnessed how music can calm my frogs down. My pacman Grif LOVES when I sing to him. A couple of months ago he got sick, refused to eat, and we had to force feed him every night for a while to keep him alive. (He's fully recovered now.) Pacmans are not meant to be handled often and get stressed out easily, so I was very worried that force feeding him was adding to his stress. One night while we were feeding him in an effort to calm him down, I started singing. He calmed right down and just sat and listened to me (even though I'm not that great of a singer, trust me!). When I was singing he was much more cooperative about being fed and seemed to be less stressed. So we got a new routine. Every night when we fed him, I would sing. I found that he responded more to certain songs, particularly slower songs in higher octaves. His favorite songs are "Lean on me" and "Phantom of the Opera" (Don't ask. He just loves it.) My other pacman also seems to be calmed by singing, but not nearly as enraptured by it. I have heard from other people as well that they respond more to female voices than males, probably because of the higher pitch. A couple of other notes: If I get too off key or sing a song he doesn't like will hope away or hunch down in a defensive position; if he likes it he hops toward me. Also, music of any sort played from a stereo barely gets any response, if any, from either frog. It's live music or bust. Of course, this is just my personal experience. Not anything scientific.

Speaking of piano music, I also play the piano and I have been wondering for quite a while if live piano music would have similar effects on my frogs. Your study made me think about it more. Unfortunately, my piano and my frogs are in completely different rooms, so there are some logistical problems. Haha.

Perhaps a follow-up study elaborating on Test C is in the future? I'd be interested to here more.

[frogluver]

Haha, that's crazy that the piano music actually worked; I would of bet money that wouldn't work. Now you know another way to calm them down besides when there is artificial environment fluctuations. Thank your sister on that . So I'll be looking forward to two 'projects' coming from you. It gets better and better, lol. No problem, by the way showing interest in your research.

Haha, I know right !! Already thanked her, twice hehe!
Yup, I'll probably have as much fun sharing the results as carrying out the experiments themselves !

[frogluver]

It's definitely an interesting study. I don't know much about wood frogs, but I've heard several pacman keepers say that their frogs respond in various ways to different types of music. Although I have never had any vocalization from music, I have definitely witnessed how music can calm my frogs down. My pacman Grif LOVES when I sing to him. A couple of months ago he got sick, refused to eat, and we had to force feed him every night for a while to keep him alive. (He's fully recovered now.) Pacmans are not meant to be handled often and get stressed out easily, so I was very worried that force feeding him was adding to his stress. One night while we were feeding him in an effort to calm him down, I started singing. He calmed right down and just sat and listened to me (even though I'm not that great of a singer, trust me!). When I was singing he was much more cooperative about being fed and seemed to be less stressed. So we got a new routine. Every night when we fed him, I would sing. I found that he responded more to certain songs, particularly slower songs in higher octaves. His favorite songs are "Lean on me" and "Phantom of the Opera" (Don't ask. He just loves it.) My other pacman also seems to be calmed by singing, but not nearly as enraptured by it. I have heard from other people as well that they respond more to female voices than males, probably because of the higher pitch. A couple of other notes: If I get too off key or sing a song he doesn't like will hope away or hunch down in a defensive position; if he likes it he hops toward me. Also, music of any sort played from a stereo barely gets any response, if any, from either frog. It's live music or bust. Of course, this is just my personal experience. Not anything scientific.

Speaking of piano music, I also play the piano and I have been wondering for quite a while if live piano music would have similar effects on my frogs. Your study made me think about it more. Unfortunately, my piano and my frogs are in completely different rooms, so there are some logistical problems. Haha.

Perhaps a follow-up study elaborating on Test C is in the future? I'd be interested to here more.

Music is amazing in how it can soothe the mind, body, and spirit.....not just for us, but for animals as well.That's neat that you've witnessed similar effects music can have with your pacman frogs . That's good to hear that Grif is doing better and that is a very interesting observation/experience that you've had with your Grif (you guys are trully connected)!! I shall keep your observations in mind when doing my experiment.

With my frogs, I get the most response with the classical piece "Moonlight" and several others. But perhaps the most soothing type of music for my frogs is Brazilian samba (particularly the love songs, go figure lol).

We have a keyboard in the same room as my frogs, though I don't play, my sister does . When she plays soft music, I get responses from my Woodies and when she plays random loud music, I get more of a response from my WTF. I can't wait to study musical effects on frog in more depth .

Yup, an eloboration on Test C is in the future.......

[Badger]

WOW, very informative and well organized. I will definitely be checking on this daily haha. Great idea, and looks like you have put in a lot of time and effort into this. Great job, well written, and interesting as all hell. Keep us posted

[frogluver]

WOW, very informative and well organized. I will definitely be checking on this daily haha. Great idea, and looks like you have put in a lot of time and effort into this. Great job, well written, and interesting as all hell. Keep us posted

Thank you Dalton!! Will definetly keep you posted (though it might be more of a weekly update lol :P).

[Badger]

lol no problem. Looking foward to the results :P