Panic in Their Voices: Changes in Social Environment Alter Call Strategies in Male Eastern Gray Treefrogs
Mentor 1
Gerlinde Hoebel
Start Date
29-4-2022 9:00 AM
Description
How a Species reacts to a change in social environment is critical in understanding it’s overall behavior. Especially in lekking species in which social environment is of the utmost importance in the mating cycle. One such species, Eastern gray treefrogs (Hyla Versicolor) are a local species of anuran which males attract mates using advertisement calls consisting of a series of short pulses (approximately ranging from 5-30). During collection we recorded male calls in two settings and social environments: in a natural context (pond) pre-amplexus and an artificial context (sound attenuated chamber) post-amplexus interruption. The results showed that male frogs recorded in the chamber with interrupted amplexus had shorter calls than pre-amplexus at the pond but faster call rates. Interestingly both frogs recorded in the pond as well as frogs recorded in the chamber has the same duty cycle, a measurement of energy expended over time. This suggests a major influence of social environment, as manipulated by amplexus state, on advertisement call strategy.
Panic in Their Voices: Changes in Social Environment Alter Call Strategies in Male Eastern Gray Treefrogs
How a Species reacts to a change in social environment is critical in understanding it’s overall behavior. Especially in lekking species in which social environment is of the utmost importance in the mating cycle. One such species, Eastern gray treefrogs (Hyla Versicolor) are a local species of anuran which males attract mates using advertisement calls consisting of a series of short pulses (approximately ranging from 5-30). During collection we recorded male calls in two settings and social environments: in a natural context (pond) pre-amplexus and an artificial context (sound attenuated chamber) post-amplexus interruption. The results showed that male frogs recorded in the chamber with interrupted amplexus had shorter calls than pre-amplexus at the pond but faster call rates. Interestingly both frogs recorded in the pond as well as frogs recorded in the chamber has the same duty cycle, a measurement of energy expended over time. This suggests a major influence of social environment, as manipulated by amplexus state, on advertisement call strategy.
