EAGER: Acoustic Differentiation of Northern Red-legged Frog Populations

理解自然世界的一个主要问题是每个物种如何能够成功地识别配偶以确保物种的持久性，以及不断变化的环境条件如何影响其繁殖成功。在许多物种中，雄性广告叫声对于吸引雌性交配以及当一个区域内有多个物种共存时用于物种识别是必不可少的。研究人员已经确定了一种新的系统，以量化当在太平洋西北部的北方红腿蛙种群中进行水下呼叫时，雄性广告和识别呼叫是如何改变的。这项关于声音传播和交配的研究将通过调查这种青蛙在其整个地理范围内的种群间的遗传分化来补充。这项研究将通过波特兰州立大学的“更好地了解实验室”的外展计划进行分享，该计划将周围的社区和研究实验室聚集在一起，共同进行数据收集，直到他们的发现。此外，还计划与当地教师建立网络，以帮助设计跨学科课程，突出通信，生态学和声音科学的作用，让学生学习交配策略和动物通信在物种成功生存中的重要作用。 感觉驱动假说认为，感觉条件（环境生物物理学）和感觉系统驱动交配信号在特定方向上的分歧，最终通过生殖成功优化信号传播。这项研究是独一无二的，在测试感官驱动假说与陆地无尾两栖动物，（1）呼吁水下和（2）呼吁在浅水池塘，可能会大大改变“正常”的声衰减。声信号分量的衰减通常与声音频率的平方成比例;较高的频率衰减得更快。然而，已经表明，在浅池塘中，基底和深度可以显著增加低频的衰减。因为女性选择的能量主导频率是基于下降在较低的范围内的信号，一个系统，其中低频率可能会显着衰减是远远更有可能创建青蛙种群之间的生殖隔离比以前的系统研究。该项目将测试的声音和遗传分化的异域北方红腿蛙种群比较池塘显着不同的声学配置文件在一个大的地理范围。如何以及男性广告呼叫匹配的频率配置文件的繁殖地点应确定繁殖成功，并创建定向选择的光谱特征，并提供了第一个测试的感官驱动假说，通过利用水下调用。

A major question in understanding the natural world is how each species is able to successfully identify a mate to assure persistence of the species and how changing environmental conditions might influence its reproductive success. In many species male advertisement calls are essential for attracting a female to mate with as well as being used for species recognition when more than one species co-occurs within an area. The researchers have identified a novel system to quantify how male advertisement and recognition calls are altered when the calls are performed underwater among populations of northern red-legged frogs in the Pacific North West. This research on sound transmission and mating will be complemented by an investigation of the genetic differentiation among populations of this frog species throughout its geographic range. The research will be shared via an outreach initiative at Portland State University's "Better Know a Lab" that brings together the surrounding community and research labs to jointly conduct data collection all the way through to the presentation of their findings. Furthermore, networking is planned with local teachers to help design interdisciplinary curricula highlighting the role of communication, ecology, and the science of sound to engage students in learning about mating strategies and the important role animal communication plays in species successful persistence in nature. The sensory drive hypothesis asserts that sensory conditions (environmental biophysics) and sensory systems drive divergence in mate signaling in a particular direction, one that optimizes signal propagation ultimately through resultant reproductive success. This research is unique in testing the sensory drive hypothesis with a terrestrial anuran that (1) calls underwater and (2) calls in shallow ponds that may dramatically alter "normal" acoustic attenuation. Attenuation of acoustic signal components is generally proportional to the square of sound frequency; higher frequencies attenuate much more quickly. However it has been shown that in shallow ponds, substrate and depth can dramatically increase the attenuation of lower frequencies. Because the energetically dominant frequencies upon which female choice is based fall in the lower range of the signal, a system where low frequencies may be dramatically attenuated is far more likely to create reproductive isolation among frog populations than the previous systems studied. The project will test the acoustic and genetic differentiation of allopatric northern red-legged frog populations compared across ponds with significantly differing acoustic profiles across a large geographical scale. How well male advertisement calls are matched to the frequency profile of the breeding site should determine reproductive success and create directional selection on spectral characteristics, and provide a first test for the sensory drive hypothesis through the utilization of underwater calling.