Accuracy of phonotaxis by the green treefrog (Hyla cinerea)

Rheinlaender, Jürgen; Gerhardt, H. Carl; Yager, David D.; Capranica, Robert R.

doi:10.1007/bf00661127

Cited by 107 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The homogeneous nature of the stop durations in these different environmental conditions suggests that stopping during walking may be a preprogrammed behavioral response. Similar stereotyped stopping behavior has been observed in female frogs using their ears to orient and navigate toward male calling songs (Rheinlaender et al, 1979). However, while stopped, these female frogs actively scan their heads from side to side, adjust their steering direction, and continue walking.…”

Section: Pre-programmed Behavior During Olfactory Orientationsupporting

confidence: 58%

Odor-modulated orientation in walking male cockroachesPeriplaneta americana, and the effects of odor plumes of different structure

Willis

Avondet

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Section: Pre-programmed Behavior During Olfactory Orientationsupporting

confidence: 58%

Odor-modulated orientation in walking male cockroachesPeriplaneta americana, and the effects of odor plumes of different structure

Willis

Avondet

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…After each alternative stimulus had been played back several times in an alternating fashion, the top of the cage was removed. A response was tabulated when the female showed phonotactic orientation behavior (Rheinlaender et al, 1979) and moved to within 10·cm of one of the speakers. If a female did not begin phonotaxis within about 5·min or hopped away from the testing area within the chamber, the trial was recorded as a 'no response'.…”

Section: The Journal Of Experimental Biologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Preferences based on spectral differences in acoustic signals in four species of treefrogs (Anura: Hylidae)

Gerhardt

Martínez-Rivera

Schwartz

et al. 2007

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Animals with sensory specializations have been favorite subjects for research in both evolutionary biology and neurobiology. The advantage for evolutionary studies is that intraspecific communication may then depend on a relatively circumscribed set of signal properties of a single sensory modality. Research concerned with mate choice, for example, can thus focus on variation in signals and preferences that are necessarily under strong selective pressure. For the neurobiologist, sensory specializations facilitate the search for functionally important neurons and networks that are likely to be over-represented in the sensory system (e.g. overrepresentation of echo-location call frequencies in the peripheral auditory system of bats, interaural time-sensitive neurons in barn owls, and texture-sensitive tactile neurons in star-nosed moles) (Koppl et al., 1993;Catania and Henry, 2006; Suga, 1979). In this study, the peripheral specialization of the auditory system of frogs sets up a straightforward test of broad interpretations of the matched-filter and pre-existing bias hypotheses.Frogs and toads have served as important model systems for the study of both evolution and mechanisms of auditory processing because of their strong reliance on acoustic communication (for a review, see Gerhardt and Huber, 2002). Their auditory system is specialized at the peripheral level by virtue of having two inner ear organs with different frequency sensitivities and physiological properties (for a review, see Feng and Schellart, 1999). Capranica (Capranica, 1965;Capranica and Moffat, 1983) pointed out the correspondence of the tuning of these two organs with the frequency bands emphasized in the conspecific advertisement call of several species of anurans and popularized the matched-filter hypothesis. Under this hypothesis, the auditory system is maximally sensitive to frequencies strongly represented in conspecific calls and less sensitive to (filters out) the signals of other species and abiotic noise, which are expected to differ in their spectral content from conspecific signals. A matched-filter system would therefore facilitate communication and signal recognition in noisy environments. Comparative studies have confirmed Capranica's expectation of auditory tuning to conspecific-call frequencies in Frogs have two inner ear organs, each tuned to a different range of frequencies. Female treefrogs (Hylidae) of three species in which males produce calls with a bimodal spectrum (Hyla chrysoscelis, H. versicolor, H. arenicolor) preferred alternatives with a bimodal spectrum to alternatives with a single high-frequency peak. By contrast, females of H. avivoca, in which males produce calls with a single, high-frequency peak, preferred synthetic calls with a single high-frequency peak to calls with a bimodal spectrum. These results are consistent with the expectations of the matched-filter hypothesis and run counter to the predictions of the pre-existing bias hypothesis. At moderate to high playback levels (85-90·dB), females of H. aviv...

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“…With respect to the chuck, the increase in spectrum relative to the whine is primarily distributed in the sensitivity range of the basilar papilla, a single channel organ unable to contribute multiple frequency channels for directional comparisons . Furthermore, even when broader spectrum calls presumably do stimulate more critical bands, frogs do not necessarily demonstrate greater accuracy [Rheinlaender et al, 1979]. Besides having a greater bandwidth than the whine, the chuck also contains higher frequencies.…”

Section: Specialized Signal Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, when using the accuracy of phonotaxis to a single sound source (i.e., head scanning and jump accuracy) Rheinlaender et al [1979] measured spatial acuity on the order of 12° in Hyla cinerea. Such acuity is consistent with measures of spatially mediated masking release in this species, as measures of call detection significantly improve for separations of calls and noise of 45° [Schwartz and Gerhardt, 1989].…”

Section: Spatial Acuity and Groupingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Spatially Separated Call Components on Phonotaxis in Túngara Frogs: Evidence for Auditory Grouping

2002

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Numerous animals across disparate taxa must identify and locate complex acoustic signals imbedded in multiple overlapping signals and ambient noise. A requirement of this task is the ability to group sounds into auditory streams in which sounds are perceived as emanating from the same source. Although numerous studies over the past 50 years have examined aspects of auditory grouping in humans, surprisingly few assays have demonstrated auditory stream formation or the assignment of multicomponent signals to a single source in non-human animals. In our study, we present evidence for auditory grouping in female túngara frogs. In contrast to humans, in which auditory grouping may be facilitated by the cues produced when sounds arrive from the same location, we show that spatial cues play a limited role in grouping, as females group discrete components of the species’ complex call over wide angular separations. Furthermore, we show that once grouped the separate call components are weighted differently in recognizing and locating the call, so called ‘what’ and ‘where’ decisions, respectively.

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Accuracy of phonotaxis by the green treefrog (Hyla cinerea)

Cited by 107 publications

References 26 publications

Odor-modulated orientation in walking male cockroachesPeriplaneta americana, and the effects of odor plumes of different structure

Odor-modulated orientation in walking male cockroachesPeriplaneta americana, and the effects of odor plumes of different structure

Preferences based on spectral differences in acoustic signals in four species of treefrogs (Anura: Hylidae)

The Effects of Spatially Separated Call Components on Phonotaxis in Túngara Frogs: Evidence for Auditory Grouping

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