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First published online August 17, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 2990-2998 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.006312

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Preferences based on spectral differences in acoustic signals in four species of treefrogs (Anura: Hylidae)

H. Carl Gerhardt^1,*, Carlos C. Martínez-Rivera¹, Joshua J. Schwartz², Vincent T. Marshall³ and Christopher G. Murphy⁴

¹ Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
² Department of Biology and Health Sciences, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY 10570, USA
³ Beckman Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
⁴ Department of Biology, James Madison University, MSC 7801, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: gerhardth{at}missouri.edu)

Accepted 26 June 2007

Frogs have two inner ear organs, each tuned to a different range of frequencies. Female treefrogs (Hylidae) of three species in which males produce calls with a bimodal spectrum (Hyla chrysoscelis, H. versicolor, H. arenicolor) preferred alternatives with a bimodal spectrum to alternatives with a single high-frequency peak. By contrast, females of H. avivoca, in which males produce calls with a single, high-frequency peak, preferred synthetic calls with a single high-frequency peak to calls with a bimodal spectrum. These results are consistent with the expectations of the matched-filter hypothesis and run counter to the predictions of the pre-existing bias hypothesis. At moderate to high playback levels (85–90 dB), females of H. avivoca and of two of three mtDNA-defined lineages of H. versicolor preferred unimodal signals with a high-frequency peak to those with a low-frequency peak. Females of H. chrysoscelis, H. arenicolor and the third lineage of H. versicolor did not show a preference, indicating that receiver mechanisms may be at least as evolutionarily labile as call structure. Spectral-peak preferences of gray treefrogs from Missouri, USA were intensity-dependent. Whereas females chose low-frequency calls at 65 dB SPL, there was either no preference (H. chrysoscelis) or a preference for high-frequency calls (H. versicolor) at 85 and 90 dB SPL. These non-linear effects indicate that there is an increasing influence of high-frequency energy on preferences as females approach calling males, and these results serve to emphasize that playback experiments conducted at a single level may have limited generality.

Key words: acoustic communication, matched filtering, pre-existing bias, non-linear effect, Hyla, spectral-structure preference

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