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Journal of Experimental Biology 74,59-73 (1978)
Published by Company of Biologists 1978

Mating Call Recognition in the Green Treefrog (Hyla Cinerea): The Significance of some Fine-temporal Properties

H. CARL GERHARDT ¹

¹ Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65201

1. Two hundred and eighty-eight female green treefrogs responded in two-choice experiments using synthetic calls. The spectral properties of the sounds were similar; the fine-temporal properties were systematically varied.

2. Females preferred sounds in which the waveform periodicity was about 300/s, a rate typical of natural mating calls. They discriminated strongly against calls with periodicities of 100/s, 60/s and 50/s. Aperiodic calls and calls with periodicities of 225/s and 900/s were intermediate in attractiveness.

3. The results of four experiments indicated that periodicity preferences depended on corresponding changes in the amplitude-time envelopes of the signals.

4. Neurophysiological correlations and the implications of the behavioural results are discussed.

5. The biological significance in species recognition and in the differentiation of the mating call from other signals in the repertoire of the green treefrog is discussed.

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