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SPECIES RECOGNITION AND SEXUAL SELECTION AS A UNITARY PROBLEM IN ANIMAL COMMUNICATION
Author(s) -
Ryan Michael J.,
Rand A. Stanley
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1993.tb02118.x
Subject(s) - biology , sexual selection , mate choice , mating , mating preferences , animal communication , preference , zoology , evolutionary biology , ecology , communication , statistics , psychology , mathematics
We investigated patterns of mating call preference and mating call recognition by examining phonotaxis of female túngara frogs, Physalaemus pustulosus , in response to conspecific and heterospecific calls. There are four results: females always prefer conspecific calls; most heterospecific calls do not elicit phonotaxis; some heterospecific calls do elicit phonotaxis and thus are effective mate recognition signals; and females prefer conspecific calls to which a component of a heterospecific call has been added to a normal conspecific call. We use these data to illustrate how concepts of species recognition and sexual selection can be understood in a unitary framework by comparing the distribution of signal traits to female preference functions.