Data from: phenology and environmental determinants of explosive breeding in gliding treefrogs: diel timing of rainfall matters

The influence of abiotic and biotic factors on the temporal pattern of
calling and breeding for many temperate anurans is well understood.
However, few studies have documented patterns of reproduction in
explosive-breeding tropical frogs or incorporated multiple environmental
factors in their analyses, especially across multiple breeding seasons. We
combine long-term natural history observations and automated data
collection methods with boosted regression tree (BRT) analysis to
determine the phenology and determinants of explosive breeding in the
gliding treefrog, Agalychnis spurrelli. We monitored breeding for a total
of 418 days across three breeding seasons and determined the relative
importance of several environmental factors on the probability of calling
and breeding activity. Our study population of A. spurrelli on Costa
Rica’s Osa Peninsula forms breeding aggregations up to 11 times per year
during 1–2-day long explosive-breeding events, from late May to
mid-September. Calling and breeding activity are strongly and positively
related to accumulated rainfall during the previous 24 and 48–24 hours
before, particularly rainfall during the afternoon and evening.
Day-of-year, days since breeding occurred, and lunar phase also influence
reproductive activity. This study provides the first description and
analysis of the phenology and factors that predict explosive breeding in
A. spurrelli and illustrates the value of using automated data collection
paired with BRTs for analysis of complex ecological data.

非生物与生物因子对多种温带无尾两栖类的鸣叫与繁殖时间格局的影响，学界已形成较为充分的认知。然而，目前鲜有研究针对爆发式繁殖的热带蛙类记录其繁殖格局，亦未在分析中纳入多环境因子，尤其是跨多个繁殖季的分析。本研究结合长期野外自然历史观测、自动化数据采集方法与提升回归树（boosted regression tree, BRT）分析，旨在明确滑翔树蛙（Agalychnis spurrelli）的爆发式繁殖物候及其驱动因子。本研究在三个繁殖季内累计开展了418天的繁殖监测，明确了多个环境因子对鸣叫与繁殖活动发生概率的相对重要性。本研究的哥斯达黎加奥萨半岛A. spurrelli种群，每年5月下旬至9月中旬会出现繁殖集群事件，单事件持续1至2天，年繁殖集群次数可达11次。鸣叫与繁殖活动与观测前24小时及24至48小时的累积降雨量呈显著正相关，尤以当日午后与晚间的降雨量相关性最强。日序、距上次繁殖事件的天数以及月相，同样会对繁殖活动产生显著影响。本研究首次对A. spurrelli的爆发式繁殖物候及其预测因子开展了描述与分析，并证实了将自动化数据采集与提升回归树分析相结合，在复杂生态学数据解析中的应用价值。