Vertical stratification in an acoustically communicating ensiferan assemblage of a tropical evergreen forest in southern India

This study provides the first quantitative description of vertical stratification in calling heights of ensiferan species constituting most of the dry-season nocturnal acoustic community of an evergreen forest in Kudremukh National Park in south-west India. Calling heights of an average of 26 indivi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of tropical ecology 2007-07, Vol.23 (4), p.479-486
Main Authors: Diwakar, Swati, Balakrishnan, Rohini
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic
Animal and plant ecology
Animal behavior
Animal communication
Animal populations
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Audio frequencies
Biological and medical sciences
Biological taxonomies
Canopies
Coniferous forests
crickets
Ecosystem studies
Ensifera
Forest canopy
Forest ecology
Forest insects
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Insects
katydids
Kudremukh
National parks
Rainforests
Stratification
Syllables
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
Tropical forests
Understory
Variance analysis
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Summary:This study provides the first quantitative description of vertical stratification in calling heights of ensiferan species constituting most of the dry-season nocturnal acoustic community of an evergreen forest in Kudremukh National Park in south-west India. Calling heights of an average of 26 individuals of each of the 20 ensiferan species were measured and subjected to an analysis of variance to test for differences in mean calling height between species and a cluster analysis to check for the presence of discontinuous calling height layers. There were significant differences in mean calling heights between species. Calling heights of different gryllid and tettigoniid species ranged from the ground to the canopy. More gryllid than tettigoniid species occupied the ground and herb layer. Our study revealed vertical stratification of calling heights, with discrete layers corresponding to the canopy, understorey and the ground layer. These clusters emerged from the raw data of calling heights of individuals without a priori distinction of layers. We found no significant correlation between the calling heights of species and call features, including mean dominant frequency of narrow band calls, mean syllable rate and mean duty cycle.
ISSN:0266-4674
1469-7831
DOI:10.1017/S0266467407004208