Abstract
The island of Hawai‘i is a tropical and isolated island with unique endemic species. Over time, Hawai‘i has become a breeding ground for invasive species, the common Coquí (Eleutherodactylus coqui Thomas, 1966) being one of them. These small ectotherms have intense vocalizations used for establishing territory and locating potential mates. On the island of Hawai‘i, the Coquí has become persistent across many islands. There have been acoustic studies done on the frogs in their native habitat, Puerto Rico, yet little is known about the possible differences in calls between these two geographically distant groups. According to past studies, climate change in Puerto Rico could cause the Coquí frogs to expand their ranges into higher, cooler altitudes with larger body sizes and lower pitch ranges. This phenomenon has yet to be studied in Hawai‘i. Through this study, I directionally recorded Eleutherodactylus coqui to obtain information on the peak frequency, body size, and altitude differences. All frogs were handled with proper permits from Cornell University.
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