Scholarlink

<p>Behavioral isolation is a central driver of speciation, yet the mechanisms linking neural tuning to isolating behaviors remain poorly understood. We used intraspecific variation in the Upland chorus frog (<i>Pseudacris feriarum</i>) to test how reinforcement shapes female responses to divergent male advertisement (lower pulse rate; PR) and aggressive calls (higher PR). In populations sympatric with <i>P. nigrita</i>, male calls have evolved faster PRs and higher pulse numbers relative to allopatric populations, and auditory neurons show altered temporal selectivity. We predicted that (1) sympatric females would show stronger and narrower preferences for local advertisement calls. Due to shared tuning of auditory neurons to fast PRs, we also predicted that (2) allopatric females would be more likely to choose aggressive calls than sympatric females, and (3) neither population would discriminate between allopatric aggressive calls and sympatric advertisement calls. We conducted binary-choice phonotaxis experiments with females from one allopatric and one sympatric population. Sympatric females strongly preferred their local advertisement call over the allopatric advertisement call, confirming reproductive character displacement and narrowed preference functions in this population. Both populations found aggressive calls moderately attractive, but allopatric females chose them more frequently than sympatric females. Finally, females from both populations failed to discriminate between allopatric aggressive calls and sympatric advertisement calls, which share similar temporal features. These results demonstrate that reinforcement can alter female responses to both advertisement and aggressive signals. By narrowing preference functions and strengthening discrimination against heterospecific and conspecific signals, such behavioral shifts promote reproductive isolation during speciation.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Effect of sympatry on discrimination of advertisement and aggressive signals by female chorus frogs

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月25日

查看全文
  • Carlie B. Ochoa,
  • Gary J. Rose,
  • Emily Moriarty Lemmon

摘要

Behavioral isolation is a central driver of speciation, yet the mechanisms linking neural tuning to isolating behaviors remain poorly understood. We used intraspecific variation in the Upland chorus frog (Pseudacris feriarum) to test how reinforcement shapes female responses to divergent male advertisement (lower pulse rate; PR) and aggressive calls (higher PR). In populations sympatric with P. nigrita, male calls have evolved faster PRs and higher pulse numbers relative to allopatric populations, and auditory neurons show altered temporal selectivity. We predicted that (1) sympatric females would show stronger and narrower preferences for local advertisement calls. Due to shared tuning of auditory neurons to fast PRs, we also predicted that (2) allopatric females would be more likely to choose aggressive calls than sympatric females, and (3) neither population would discriminate between allopatric aggressive calls and sympatric advertisement calls. We conducted binary-choice phonotaxis experiments with females from one allopatric and one sympatric population. Sympatric females strongly preferred their local advertisement call over the allopatric advertisement call, confirming reproductive character displacement and narrowed preference functions in this population. Both populations found aggressive calls moderately attractive, but allopatric females chose them more frequently than sympatric females. Finally, females from both populations failed to discriminate between allopatric aggressive calls and sympatric advertisement calls, which share similar temporal features. These results demonstrate that reinforcement can alter female responses to both advertisement and aggressive signals. By narrowing preference functions and strengthening discrimination against heterospecific and conspecific signals, such behavioral shifts promote reproductive isolation during speciation.