Linking mate choice to hearing and ear structure in Engystymops (Physalaemus) petersi
-
1
Colorado State University, Biology, United States
-
2
University of Southern Denmark, Biology, Denmark
Differences in response to acoustic signals can result from changes to ear structures, and consequently hearing sensitivity, or differences in central processing. This study investigated the mechanisms underlying differences in female call preference of three closely related anuran species of the species complex Engystymops petersi. Amongst the species investigated, males differ in their call frequencies used for mate signaling and females differ in their preferences for those calls, with consistent preference for conspecific calls. Using auditory brainstem recordings and histology, we examined how closely the hearing of female anurans corresponds to conspecific male call frequencies and whether morphological differences in the ear could explain hearing differences among the three species. Our data shows that females from these three species differ in hearing sensitivity as well as in ear morphology. However, inner ear volume, middle ear volume, columella volume, and tympanum size correlate with differences in head width and do not vary between species in ways that explain differences in hearing sensitivity. Our results indicate that a change in peripheral sensitivity could contribute to behavioral differences in mate preference of closely related anuran species.
Keywords:
Engystymops petersi,
female preference,
Hearing,
sensory ecology
Conference:
Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park. Maryland USA, United States, 5 Aug - 10 Aug, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Poster (but consider for participant symposium and student poster award)
Topic:
Social Behavior
Citation:
Womack
MC,
Christensen-Dalsgaard
J,
Brandt
C and
Hoke
K
(2012). Linking mate choice to hearing and ear structure in Engystymops (Physalaemus) petersi.
Conference Abstract:
Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00421
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
03 May 2012;
Published Online:
07 Jul 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Molly C Womack, Colorado State University, Biology, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, United States, mollywo@rams.colostate.edu