Sound level discrimination by gray treefrogs in the presence and absence of chorus-shaped noise.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Mark A BeeJames D Forester

Abstract

An important aspect of hearing and acoustic communication is the ability to discriminate differences in sound level. Little is known about level discrimination in anuran amphibians (frogs and toads), for which vocal communication in noisy social environments is often critical for reproduction. This study used two-choice phonotaxis tests to investigate the ability of females of Cope's gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) to discriminate between two advertisement calls differing only in sound pressure level by 2, 4, or 6 dB. Tests were conducted in the presence and absence of chorus-shaped noise (73 dB) and using two different ranges of signal levels (73-79 dB and 79-85 dB). Females discriminated between two signals differing by as little as 2-4 dB. In contrast to expectations based on the "near miss to Weber's law" in birds and mammals, level discrimination was slightly better at the lower range of signal amplitudes, a finding consistent with earlier studies of frogs and insects. Realistic levels of background noise simulating a breeding chorus had no discernable effect on discrimination at the sound level differences tested in this study. These results have important implications for studies of auditory masking and signaling behav...Continue Reading

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Jan 24, 2012·Current Opinion in Neurobiology·Mark A Bee

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Citations

Oct 17, 2012·Journal of Comparative Physiology. A, Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology·Alejandro VélezMark A Bee
Feb 4, 2014·Journal of Comparative Physiology. A, Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology·Stefan Hirtenlehner, Heiner Römer
Oct 15, 2013·The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·Alejandro VélezMark A Bee
Jan 14, 2012·Hearing Research·Vivek Nityananda, Mark A Bee
Apr 15, 2014·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Karin L Akre, Sönke Johnsen
Jan 16, 2014·International Journal of Psychophysiology : Official Journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology·Mark A Bee
Jan 24, 2012·Current Opinion in Neurobiology·Mark A Bee
Oct 30, 2014·Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience·Vijay Mohan K NamboodiriMarshall G Hussain Shuler
Oct 13, 2016·Biological cybernetics·Mark A Bee, Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard
Nov 9, 2018·The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·Mark A Bee, Alejandro Vélez
Mar 31, 2019·Journal of Comparative Physiology. A, Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology·Kevin W ChristieAlbert S Feng
Jul 3, 2019·Current Zoology·Ryan C TaylorMichael J Ryan

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