@article {53394, title = {To compete or not to compete: bushcricket song plasticity reveals male body condition and rival distance}, journal = {Animal Behaviour}, volume = {142}, year = {2018}, month = {Jan-08-2018}, pages = {59 - 68}, abstract = {

Males of several animals, including insects, use acoustic signals to attract a sexually receptive conspecific partner. In the orthopteran chorusing genus Poecilimon (Tettigoniidae), male signalling as well as female preference can be related to male body condition and to the social environment. Song is thought to be an honest signal of male quality, and song characteristics are therefore often important for sexual and social selection. At the same time, signal expression is plastic and this plasticity depends on the quality of the individual signaller, the acoustic components preferred by females and rivals\&$\#$39; body condition and proximity. Using the bushcricket species Poecilimon ampliatus as a model, we investigated how both internal (body condition) and external (level of competition) factors affected the expression of temporal song characteristics. We show that both factors significantly affected acoustic signalling activity: when competing against light rivals, heavy males adjusted the characteristics of their songs to different social conditions. However, light males competing against a heavy rival showed less plasticity in their acoustic signals across social conditions. During the most escalated competition, heavier males increased their acoustic signal investment up to the maximum level, signalling with longer verses and higher duty cycles, in comparison to all other treatments. Body condition and the social environment affected male acoustic signal activity, which suggests that these factors mediate the allocation of resources for signalling and different strategies adopted in competition. The adaptive plasticity of acoustic signals in this species raises new questions about the potential role that this process could play in natural choruses, where more than two competitors are signalling simultaneously.

}, keywords = {behavioural plasticity, body condition, bushcrickets, male-male competition}, issn = {00033472}, doi = {10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.05.022}, url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0003347218301738https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0003347218301738?httpAccept=text/xmlhttps://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0003347218301738?httpAccept=text/plain}, author = {Anichini, Marianna and Frommolt, Karl-Heinz} } @article {53245, title = {An increase in song pitch of eastern great tits (Parus minor) in response to urban noise at Seoul, Korea}, journal = {Urban Ecosystems}, year = {2018}, month = {May-10-2019}, abstract = {

Anthropogenic noise may mask effective vocal signal transmission by birds, particularly in notes occurring in lower frequencies. Previous studies have shown a correlation of increased urban noise levels, higher minimum frequency, and lowered bandwidth in Great Tit song (Parus major). We therefore studied the effect of urban noise pollution on the song characteristics of the closely related Eastern Great Tit (EGTs, Parus minor) at Hongneung experimental forests (HEFs) in the metropolitan urban of Seoul, Korea. We analysed the song characteristics of breeding territories of EGTS in total 13 individuals recorded including four individuals at high noise group. EGTs singing in noisier locations exhibited higher minimum \& maximum frequency, and lower note \& strophe length, and higher bandwidth, replicating the different findings of Great Tits. This data also suggests that several individuals at high noise location exhibited a non-typical song type indicative of structural adaptation to higher noise levels. Although the mechanisms of these correlations are as yet undetermined, it is likely that behavioural plasticity may play a role of vocal signal adaption in an increasingly urbanizing Korea.

}, keywords = {behavioural plasticity, Hongneung experimental forests, Urbanization}, issn = {1083-8155}, doi = {10.1007/s11252-018-0809-z}, url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11252-018-0809-z}, author = {Lee, Catherine and Park, Chan Ryul} } @article {53067, title = {Roaming Romeos: male crickets evolving in silence show increased locomotor behaviours}, journal = {Animal Behaviour}, volume = {101}, year = {2015}, month = {Jan-03-2015}, pages = {213 - 219}, abstract = {

Loss of sexual signals should be strongly selected against when these signals are necessary for mate attraction or acquisition. Male Teleogryllus oceanicus field crickets produce a long-distance calling song to attract females. Separate genetic mutations recently evolved on the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai and Oahu, rendering approximately 90\% and 50\% of males, respectively, incapable of calling. We examined whether males from three populations, each with a distinct prevalence of this silent \‘flatwing\’ phenotype, show behavioural plasticity in response to being reared in a call-less environment. Crickets from Kauai, Oahu and Mangaia, a Cook Islands population without the flatwing phenotype, either were or were not exposed to calling song during late juvenile and early adult development. Movement assays showed that when males originating from Kauai were reared in silence, they moved sooner, moved more and spent more time walking during silent behaviour trials than did their counterparts reared with calling song. Males from Oahu and Mangaia, however, showed no such effect of acoustic rearing environment on these behaviours. This suggests that there has been directional selection on Kauai for males to respond to a silent environment by increasing their mobility, thus compensating for their lack of song and increasing their chance of encountering receptive females.

}, keywords = {behavioural plasticity, flatwing, n signal los, s Teleogryllus oceanicus, sexual selectio}, issn = {00033472}, doi = {10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.12.023}, url = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S000334721400476X}, author = {Zuk, Marlene} }