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Abstract

Vocalizations are one of the most important communication modalities in amphibian biology, and advertisement call is the type of vocalization mostly emitted by anurans (frogs and toads). In the present study, we carried out a scientometric analysis of the advertisement call in species of anurans in Colombia to determine the state of knowledge of this science in the country. We recorded the number of call descriptions and its trend throughout more than 60 years; in addition, we identified how many species there are with the call described per taxonomic family, geographic units and threat status. According to our review, between 1958 and June 30 of 2021, at least 296 studies have been published that describe the advertisement call of 307 species (of 785 in the country); only 130 descriptions come from recordings to individuals in Colombian populations. Leptodactylidae and Hylidae are the families with the highest percentage of species whose call has been described (84.6% and 68.4%, respectively). On the contrary, Bufonidae (19.5%) and Craugastoridae (12.9%) exhibit a low percentage of described calls. The Central and Eastern cordilleras were the regions with the best knowledge of advertisement calls, while the least known were the Caribbean – interAndean valleys, Orinoquía, and Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. In terms of the threat status, the species with the least concern (LC) were the ones that presented the highest number of species with the call described. Despite an increase in the most recent two decades, our findings still reveal notable gaps in knowledge of the advertisement calls in Colombian anurans, which constitutes an incentive to develop future research on this subject. Finally, based on this meta-analysis, we highlight some recommendations that we hope that we hope stimulate new studies in ecoacoustics, using anurans in Colombia as a study model.

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