Eavesdroppers and Signal Evolution

动物王国中最奢侈的行为是雄性在求偶时用来吸引雌性的。这些信号受到选择的青睐，因为具有更多奢侈特征的雄性更喜欢雌性作为配偶。但窃听者可以使用这些信号来找到他们的猎物和宿主。研究人员将研究金枪蛙(Physalaemus Pustulosus)的这种通讯网络。雄性发出交配叫声来吸引雌性。呼叫有两个部分：总是发出哀鸣，可以添加1-7个卡盘。雄鱼在与其他雄鱼进行发声比赛时会增加查克。雌性会被简单的哀鸣所吸引，但更喜欢带着夹克的哀鸣。窃听发现青蛙的两个间谍是吞噬青蛙的食蛙蝙蝠(TrachopCirrhosus)和吸血苍蝇(Corethrella spp.)他们用原生动物锥虫感染青蛙。这两种青蛙都是通过专注于它们的叫声来找到青蛙的，它们都被哀鸣所吸引，但都更喜欢哀鸣和查克。研究人员问，为什么三个接收者中的每一个都优先被带有夹头的叫声所吸引：它们更容易被找到，它们是否走得更远，它们是否意味着更大的合唱？然后，他们询问雄性蝙蝠和苍蝇是否会改变它们的叫声行为。最后，测量了添加夹头的相对成本(捕食风险)和收益(配对)。这项研究将有助于理解为什么当男性试图向女性炫耀时，他们会付出巨大的代价，以及男性性行为的这些成本和好处是如何相互作用，促进和限制它们进化的程度。该奖项由科学与工程办公室共同资助

The most extravagant behaviors in the animal kingdom are used by males to attract females during courtship. These signals are favored by selection because males with more extravagant traits are preferred as mates by females. But eavesdroppers can use these signals to find their prey and hosts. Researchers will investigate this communication network in the tungara frog, Physalaemus pustulosus. Males produce a mating call to attract females. The call has two parts: the whine is always produced, and 1-7 chucks can be added. Males add chucks when in vocal competition with other males. Females are attracted to a simple whine but prefer a whine with chucks. The two spies that eavesdrop to find the frogs are frog-eating bats (Trachops cirrhosus), who devour the frogs, and blood-sucking flies (Corethrella spp.) who infect the frogs with protozoan trypanosomes. Both find the frogs by homing in on their calls, are attracted to whines, but prefer whines and chucks. The researchers ask why each of the three receivers is preferentially attracted to calls with chucks: are they easier to find, do they travel farther, do they indicate larger choruses? They then ask if males alter their calling behavior in response to the presence of the bats and flies. Finally, the relative costs (predation risk) and benefits (matings) of adding chucks are measured. This research will permit an understanding of why when males try to show off to females they do so at a great cost, and how these costs and benefits of male sexual displays interact to both promote and limit the extent of their evolution.This award is co-funded by the Office of Science and Engineering