Multimodal signaling improves mating success in the green tree frog (Hyla cinerea), but may not help small males

Laird, Krispen L.; Clements, P.J.; Hunter, Kimberly L.; Taylor, Rabun

doi:10.1007/s00265-016-2160-9

Cited by 24 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…We found that the vocal sac can serve as a visual cue and modulate mate choice when combined with an acoustic signal, but such an isolated visual signal is not as effective for mate attraction as an acoustic signal. Our findings that female serrate‐legged small treefrogs prefer multimodal calls over unimodal calls are consistent with the results in the túngara frog and the green treefrog (Laird et al., 2016; Taylor & Ryan, 2013). Meanwhile, weaker preference to the isolated visual sac demonstrates that the acoustic component of a frog's call is its dominant feature for mate attraction.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Multisensory modalities increase working memory for mating signals in a treefrog

Zhu

Yue

Deng

et al. 2021

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Animal choruses, such as those found in insects and frogs, are often intermittent. Thus, females sampling males in the chorus might have to remember the location of the potential mates' calls during periods of silence. Although a number of studies have shown that frogs use and prefer multimodal mating signals, usually acoustic plus visual, it is not clear why they do so. Here we tested the hypothesis that preference for multimodal signals over unimodal signals might be due to multimodal signals instantiating longer memories than unimodal signals, particularly during the inter‐chorus intervals. We tested this hypothesis in serrate‐legged small treefrogs Kurixalus odontotarsus whose males produce advertisement calls accompanied by conspicuous vocal sac inflation. Females were tested with acoustic and acoustic + visual (video of inflating‐deflating vocal sac) mating calls. We found that females prefer multimodal calls over unimodal, audio‐only calls. Furthermore, multimodal calls are still preferred after a silent period of up to 30 s, a time that spans the average silent period of the chorus. This was not true of unimodal calls. Our results demonstrate that a multimodal signal can engage longer working memory than a unimodal signal, and thus female memory might favour the evolution of multimodal signals in males through sexual selection. Selection might also favour female preference for multimodal signals if longer memory facilitates mate searching and assessment. Our study does not allow us to elucidate the sequence of evolution of this trait and preference.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Multisensory modalities increase working memory for mating signals in a treefrog

Zhu

Yue

Deng

et al. 2021

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…Advertisement and aggressive calls comprise the vast majority of vocalizations produced by these species; other call types such as release calls are produced extremely rarely and may indeed be variants of aggressive calls (Gerhardt, ; Pierce & Ralin, ). Furthermore, while vision plays a role in mate attraction and possibly aggression in these species (Laird, Clements, Hunter, & Taylor, ; Reichert & Höbel, ), it is not known whether visual signals, as opposed to cues, are involved, and acoustic signals are necessary and sufficient to elicit these behaviors (Gerhardt & Huber, ). Thus, the signal repertoire of these three species can be reasonably approximated by the two call types we studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic integration and the evolution of signal repertoires: A case study of treefrog acoustic communication

Reichert

Höbel

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Animal signals are inherently complex phenotypes with many interacting parts combining to elicit responses from receivers. The pattern of interrelationships between signal components reflects the extent to which each component is expressed, and responds to selection, either in concert with or independently of others. Furthermore, many species have complex repertoires consisting of multiple signal types used in different contexts, and common morphological and physiological constraints may result in interrelationships extending across the multiple signals in species’ repertoires. The evolutionary significance of interrelationships between signal traits can be explored within the framework of phenotypic integration, which offers a suite of quantitative techniques to characterize complex phenotypes. In particular, these techniques allow for the assessment of modularity and integration, which describe, respectively, the extent to which sets of traits covary either independently or jointly. Although signal and repertoire complexity are thought to be major drivers of diversification and social evolution, few studies have explicitly measured the phenotypic integration of signals to investigate the evolution of diverse communication systems. We applied methods from phenotypic integration studies to quantify integration in the two primary vocalization types (advertisement and aggressive calls) in the treefrogs Hyla versicolor, Hyla cinerea, and Dendropsophus ebraccatus. We recorded male calls and calculated standardized phenotypic variance–covariance (P) matrices for characteristics within and across call types. We found significant integration across call types, but the strength of integration varied by species and corresponded with the acoustic similarity of the call types within each species. H. versicolor had the most modular advertisement and aggressive calls and the least acoustically similar call types. Additionally, P was robust to changing social competition levels in H. versicolor. Our findings suggest new directions in animal communication research in which the complex relationships among the traits of multiple signals are a key consideration for understanding signal evolution.

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“…One final aspect that should be considered for future studies is that of locally adapted calls. Many anuran calls have been found to contain characteristics that signify the caller’s origin, like a regional dialect (Gomez et al 2009 ; Laird et al 2016 ; Jacobs et al 2017 ; Kaiser et al 2018 ; Wiens and Tuschhoff 2020 ). Additionally, both of the calls used in our experiment were non-local to the focal population; however, it is uncertain whether receivers might have been able to distinguish any characteristics that may have indicated clues about the caller’s origin or history.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, female frogs, when presented with multiple stimuli in choice tests (e.g., attractive vs unattractive calls), can indicate selection by phonotaxis towards one stimulus over the other in different scenarios (e.g. during periods of background noise or quiet) (Bee and Swanson, 2007 ; Gomez et al 2009 ; Richardson and Lengagne 2010 ; Troïanowski et al 2014 ; Bee 2015 :20; Laird et al 2016 ; Senzaki et al 2018 ). Additionally, since anuran male-male competition constitutes vocal and/or fighting battles, playback experiments can stimulate calling behaviour (i.e.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limited effects of traffic noise on behavioural responses to conspecific mating calls in the eastern sedge frog Litoria fallax

2021

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Anthropogenic noise is a pervasive environmental feature across both urban and non-urban habitats and presents a novel challenge especially for acoustically communicating species. While it is known that some species adjust acoustic signals to communicate more effectively in noisy habitats, we know very little about how the receivers of these signals might be impacted by anthropogenic noise. Here, we investigated female and male Litoria fallax frogs’ ability to distinguish between high- and low-quality acoustic signals during the presence of background traffic noise and without. We performed a controlled behavioural experiment whereby frogs were presented with simultaneously broadcasted attractive and unattractive calls from opposing directions, once with background traffic noise and once without. We found that females in particular chose the unattractive call significantly more often (and males significantly less often) when noise was being broadcast. This indicates that anthropogenic noise potentially affects receiver responses to acoustic signals, even when calls are not acoustically masked, with potential consequences for maladaptive mating behaviours and population outcomes. Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10211-021-00378-7.

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Multimodal signaling improves mating success in the green tree frog (Hyla cinerea), but may not help small males

Cited by 24 publications

References 58 publications

Multisensory modalities increase working memory for mating signals in a treefrog

Multisensory modalities increase working memory for mating signals in a treefrog

Phenotypic integration and the evolution of signal repertoires: A case study of treefrog acoustic communication

Limited effects of traffic noise on behavioural responses to conspecific mating calls in the eastern sedge frog Litoria fallax

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