DDIG: Assessment of fighting ability and the use of the aggressive call in gray treefrog contests

在许多动物中，攻击性的信号，而不是公开的身体战斗被用来解决争端。尽管对攻击性信号进行了深入的研究，但大多数动物在比赛中评估自己和竞争对手地位的方法仍然不清楚：例如，动物可以使用相互评估，其中在比赛中的持久性是基于评估它们相对于对手的战斗能力，或者它们可以使用自我评估，在这种情况下，退出的决定只基于对自己的累积成本的评估，而不管对手的特点如何。最近的理论工作提供了一种方法来区分可能的评估手段。本研究将使用这些最新的理论进展，以确定是否男性灰树蛙，Hyla versicolor，使用相互或自我评估在侵略性的声乐互动。测量的持续时间和水平的升级阶段的侵略性的遭遇之间的调用男性在大小相等和大小不等的配对将被用来区分这两种可能性。在相互评估下，当个体更接近匹配时，无论其绝对大小如何，预计比赛时间会更长，而自我评估预测比赛持续时间是较小个体的绝对大小的递增函数，无论大小不对称。这个实验将提供重要的新信息的意义积极的信号，这将是重要的，以确认最近的理论研究结果。工作它也将继续H.变色龙作为攻击性信号研究的模型。青蛙的攻击性叫声一般都没有得到充分的研究，但青蛙为研究交流提供了许多优势。最后，该项目将为几个本科生（包括那些代表性不足的群体），谁将有机会充分参与该项目的执行提供重要的研究经验。

In many animals, aggressive signals, rather than overt physical fighting are used to resolve disputes. Despite intensive research into aggressive signaling, the means by which most animals assess their own status and that of competitors during contests remains unclear: for example, animals may use mutual assessment, in which persistence in a contest is based on assessing their fighting ability relative to that of their opponent, or they may use self-assessment, in which the decision to withdraw is based only on assessing their own accumulated costs, regardless of characteristics of their opponent. Recent theoretical work has provided a method to distinguish between possible means of assessment. This study will use these recent theoretical advances to determine whether male gray treefrogs, Hyla versicolor, use mutual or self assessment during aggressive vocal interactions. Measurements of the duration and level of escalation of staged aggressive encounters between calling males in size-equal and size-unequal pairings will be used to distinguish between these two possibilities. Under mutual assessment, contests are expected to be longer when individuals are more closely matched, regardless of their absolute size, while self-assessment predicts that contest duration is an increasing function of the absolute size of the smaller individual, regardless of size asymmetry.This experiment will provide important new information on the significance of aggressive signaling that will be important for confirming the results of recent theoretical work. It will also continue the development of H. versicolor as a model for studies of aggressive signaling. Aggressive calling in frogs has been understudied in general, yet frogs offer many advantages to the study of communication. Finally, this project will provide important research experiences for several undergraduate students (including those from underrepresented groups), who will be given the opportunity to participate fully in the project's execution.