Secondary spectral components of substrate-borne vibrational signals affect male preference

Behavioural Processes
Valerio MazzoniMeta Virant-Doberlet

Abstract

Animal sexual signals contain information about both compatibility and quality of the signaller, but combined with influence of the signalling medium, the complexity of mate selection makes it difficult to separate different components of this process. We approached the problem of teasing apart different functions of sexual signals by using the planthopper Hyalesthes obsoletus, which uses unimodal vibrational communication, as a model. Vibrational signals are known to encode information about identity in their temporal pattern, while a useful cue for quality may reside in their spectral properties. In this study, we demonstrate a connection between spectral properties and attractiveness of female signals based on male behavioural response to signal playback. Artificially increasing the amplitude of high-frequency components increases signal attractiveness and vice versa, which indicates that spectral properties could function as an index of quality. Presence of high-frequency spectral components might indicate a larger or healthier individual, but direct connection with female fitness is not yet clear. In addition, we found that H. obsoletus males are able to exploit female pulses as directional cues and can discriminate betwee...Continue Reading

References

Sep 25, 2001·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·R Bonduriansky
Dec 24, 2002·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Sasha R X Dall, Rufus A Johnstone
Mar 19, 2003·Behavioural Processes·N MiklasM Virant-Doberlet
Jul 14, 2009·Die Naturwissenschaften·Peggy S M Hill
Dec 22, 2009·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Jakob Bro-Jørgensen
Mar 8, 2011·Ecology Letters·Martine E Maan, Ole Seehausen
Sep 6, 2011·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Dominic A Edward, Tracey Chapman
May 12, 2012·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Tamra C Mendelson, Kerry L Shaw
Aug 8, 2014·Behavioural Processes·Jernej PolajnarValerio Mazzoni
Jan 23, 2015·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Darren Rebar, Rafael L Rodríguez

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Auditory Perception

Auditory perception is the ability to receive and interpret information attained by the ears. Here is the latest research on factors and underlying mechanisms that influence auditory perception.