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Parasite defensive limb movements enhance acoustic signal attraction in male little torrent frogs

Many animals rely on complex signals that target multiple senses to attract mates and repel rivals. These multimodal displays can however also attract unintended receivers, which can be an important driver of signal complexity. Despite being taxonomically widespread, we often lack insight into how m...

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Autores principales: Zhao, Longhui, Wang, Jichao, Zhang, Haodi, Wang, Tongliang, Yang, Yue, Tang, Yezhong, Halfwerk, Wouter, Cui, Jianguo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9122496/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35522043
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76083
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author Zhao, Longhui
Wang, Jichao
Zhang, Haodi
Wang, Tongliang
Yang, Yue
Tang, Yezhong
Halfwerk, Wouter
Cui, Jianguo
author_facet Zhao, Longhui
Wang, Jichao
Zhang, Haodi
Wang, Tongliang
Yang, Yue
Tang, Yezhong
Halfwerk, Wouter
Cui, Jianguo
author_sort Zhao, Longhui
collection PubMed
description Many animals rely on complex signals that target multiple senses to attract mates and repel rivals. These multimodal displays can however also attract unintended receivers, which can be an important driver of signal complexity. Despite being taxonomically widespread, we often lack insight into how multimodal signals evolve from unimodal signals and in particular what roles unintended eavesdroppers play. Here, we assess whether the physical movements of parasite defense behavior increase the complexity and attractiveness of an acoustic sexual signal in the little torrent frog (Amolops torrentis). Calling males of this species often display limb movements in order to defend against blood-sucking parasites such as frog-biting midges that eavesdrop on their acoustic signal. Through mate choice tests we show that some of these midge-evoked movements influence female preference for acoustic signals. Our data suggest that midge-induced movements may be incorporated into a sexual display, targeting both hearing and vision in the intended receiver. Females may play an important role in incorporating these multiple components because they prefer signals which combine multiple modalities. Our results thus help to understand the relationship between natural and sexual selection pressure operating on signalers and how in turn this may influence multimodal signal evolution.
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spelling pubmed-91224962022-05-21 Parasite defensive limb movements enhance acoustic signal attraction in male little torrent frogs Zhao, Longhui Wang, Jichao Zhang, Haodi Wang, Tongliang Yang, Yue Tang, Yezhong Halfwerk, Wouter Cui, Jianguo eLife Ecology Many animals rely on complex signals that target multiple senses to attract mates and repel rivals. These multimodal displays can however also attract unintended receivers, which can be an important driver of signal complexity. Despite being taxonomically widespread, we often lack insight into how multimodal signals evolve from unimodal signals and in particular what roles unintended eavesdroppers play. Here, we assess whether the physical movements of parasite defense behavior increase the complexity and attractiveness of an acoustic sexual signal in the little torrent frog (Amolops torrentis). Calling males of this species often display limb movements in order to defend against blood-sucking parasites such as frog-biting midges that eavesdrop on their acoustic signal. Through mate choice tests we show that some of these midge-evoked movements influence female preference for acoustic signals. Our data suggest that midge-induced movements may be incorporated into a sexual display, targeting both hearing and vision in the intended receiver. Females may play an important role in incorporating these multiple components because they prefer signals which combine multiple modalities. Our results thus help to understand the relationship between natural and sexual selection pressure operating on signalers and how in turn this may influence multimodal signal evolution. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2022-05-06 /pmc/articles/PMC9122496/ /pubmed/35522043 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76083 Text en © 2022, Zhao et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Ecology
Zhao, Longhui
Wang, Jichao
Zhang, Haodi
Wang, Tongliang
Yang, Yue
Tang, Yezhong
Halfwerk, Wouter
Cui, Jianguo
Parasite defensive limb movements enhance acoustic signal attraction in male little torrent frogs
title Parasite defensive limb movements enhance acoustic signal attraction in male little torrent frogs
title_full Parasite defensive limb movements enhance acoustic signal attraction in male little torrent frogs
title_fullStr Parasite defensive limb movements enhance acoustic signal attraction in male little torrent frogs
title_full_unstemmed Parasite defensive limb movements enhance acoustic signal attraction in male little torrent frogs
title_short Parasite defensive limb movements enhance acoustic signal attraction in male little torrent frogs
title_sort parasite defensive limb movements enhance acoustic signal attraction in male little torrent frogs
topic Ecology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9122496/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35522043
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76083
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