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First published online July 2, 2004
Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 2777-2786 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01092

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Habitat-dependent transmission of male advertisement calls in bladder grasshoppers (Orthoptera; Pneumoridae)

Vanessa C. K. Couldridge^* and Moira J. van Staaden

Department of Biological Sciences, and JP Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: vanessa{at}caspar.bgsu.edu)

Accepted 18 May 2004

It has been hypothesized that the physical properties of the environment exert selection pressure on long-range acoustic communication signals to match the local habitat by promoting signal characteristics that minimize excess attenuation and distortion. We tested this in a unique family of bladder grasshoppers notable for producing a signal with a 2 km maximum transmission distance. In direct performance comparisons, male advertisement calls of seven species were broadcast through four vegetation biomes – forest, fynbos, savanna and succulent karoo. The calls of species native to forest and fynbos biomes propagated with lower levels of distortion over distance in their respective habitats relative to those of non-native species, while fynbos species also performed best in the remaining two habitats. In addition, both forest and fynbos species had low levels of signal attenuation over distance in all environments. The fynbos biome was characterized by high inconsistency in signal degradation, while the forest biome had the highest levels of environmental noise. Innate habitat characteristics, leading to comparatively limited acoustic communication distances in the forest and fynbos relative to the savanna and succulent karoo, may therefore explain the need for a higher quality of signal transmission in grasshoppers inhabiting the former two environments.

Key words: acoustic communication, advertisement call, habitat, bladder grasshopper, Pneumoridae, sound transmission, spectrographic cross correlation

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