Basic Mechanisms and Evolution of Acoustic Communication

题目：声学通信的基本机制和进化摘要：获得声学通信的基本机制和进化的知识的主要目标将通过研究灰色树蛙复合体的成员作为一个模型系统来完成。这些树蛙的雄性会发出一组刻板的、未经学习的信号，雌性则完全基于这些信号来选择配偶。在回放实验中使用合成的、计算机生成的声音将被用来确定从这些信号中提取的确切的声学标准，这些信号是由来自整个复杂范围内不同种群的雌性提取的。造成种群间差异的一个主要选择因素是声学群落的复杂性，因此，在两个基因不相容的种群共存的种群与只有一个物种存在的种群之间，将比较雌性的选择。进一步的实验将探索不断增加的声音复杂性（背景噪声和竞争信号的数量）对种群内配偶选择的影响。最后，灰树蛙复合体由三种四倍体组成，它们的声学信号具有相似的声学结构。由于这些谱系被认为是独立产生的，并且在一代中通过自多倍体（由环境因素引起的染色体数目加倍）产生，因此他们如何从他们的二倍体祖先中获得行为隔离的问题就出现了。细胞大小和数量的变化伴随着自多倍体的发生，这一假设对召唤结构、雌性选择标准或两者都有重要的行为影响，将通过从二倍体个体的冷冲击卵中制造人工多倍体来验证。

Gerhardt, Carl IBN-9507394 Title: Basic Mechanisms and Evolution of Acoustic Communication Abstract The main goal of gaining knowledge about basic mechanisms and evolution of acoustic communication will be accomplished by studying members of the gray treefrog complex as a model system. Males of these treefrogs produce a small set of stereotyped, unlearned signals, and females base their choice of mates entirely on these signals. The use of synthetic, computer- generated sounds in playback experiments will be used to identify the exact acoustic criteria extracted from these signals by females from different populations throughout the range of the complex. A major selective factor that may shape differences between populations is the complexity of the acoustic community, and female selectivity will thus be compared between populations where two, genetically incompatible members of the complex co- exist with populations in which only a single species occurs. Further experiments will explore the effects of increasing acoustic complexity (background noise and number of competing signalers) on intrapopulational mate choice. Finally, the gray treefrog complex consists of three lineages of tetraploids that have acoustic signals with similar acoustic structures. Because these lineages are thought to have arisen independently and in one generation by autopolyploidy (doubling of chromosome numbers caused by environment factors), the question of how they achieved behavioral isolation from their diploid ancestors arises. The hypothesis that the changes in cell size and number that accompanies autopolyploidy have behaviorally important effects on call structure, female-choice criteria, or both will be tested by creating artificial polyploids from the cold-shocked eggs of diploid individuals.