Estimating repeatability allows a first approximation that may indicate a potential response to selection of sexual traits. Acoustic sexual signals comprise spectral and temporal variables, where the former generally have lower intra-individual variation and higher repeatability values. Studies of repeatability in anurans have been conducted mainly in natural conditions, but the stability of laboratory settings allows extended recording intervals, favoring measurement accuracy. We conducted a study of variation and repeatability of the calls of males of Batrachyla taeniata, a frog from the South American temperate forest to evaluate under homogeneous environmental and social conditions: i) the extent of variation in acoustic properties of calls within and among days, ii) the extent of temporal variation in the repeatability of call properties, and iii) differences in repeatability among call variables. Variation of acoustic properties differed within and across days of recording, call rate generally increased within and throughout days, suggesting sensitization processes. Call duration decreased during these time spans, yielding constant calling effort. In contrast, the dominant frequency decreased within days but increased across days. Overall repeatability differs significantly among variables: dominant frequency, call rate and call duration having the highest, intermediate and lowest values, respectively. The high repeatability of call rate relative to call duration contrasts with an opposing general tendency in previous studies in anurans. The repeatability of the three variables analyzed increases within days and the repeatability of call rate also increases throughout days, highlighting the relevance of this variable for individual identity over different time ranges.

The procedures were in accordance with national laws of animal welfare and were approved by the Comité institucional de cuidado y uso de animales (CICUA, Protocolo UNI 21014-MED-UCH).

This dataset contains the acoustic variables analyzed in the study. Specifically, the file “Data_DF_DUR.csv” includes 5 columns corresponding to: ID of individuals, day, block, snout-vent length, dominant frequency (Hz), duration (s). The file “Data_nCalls.csv” includes 4 columns corresponding to: ID of individuals, day, block, snout-vent length, number of calls produced within 10 min. In addition, the R script including the analyses and figures is provided.

Data was collected under laboratory conditions