Dissertation Research: Sexually Selected Mediation of Mating Tactic Choice in the Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)

University Of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

Male animals may use several different behaviors to obtain mates. In the case of the green treefrog, some males remain silently positioned next to a calling male and attempt to intercept females attracted to that caller (satellite mating tactic). Using multiple speaker playbacks of frog calls to simulate and control a socially complex environment, investigations of how a male's ability to compete with other individuals for access to mates influences his use of different mating behaviors will be conducted. It will also be determined whether males adopting the satellite mating behavior take advantage of female call preferences for mates by becoming satellites of attractive males, thereby maximizing the benefits of the behavior. Behavioral differences among individuals may have a purely genetic basis; however, individuals in many species are flexible in their behavioral choices and adopt the tactic that best fits their current needs. Scientists have a relatively poor understanding why individual behavioral variation exists and how the animal's social environment may mediate this behavioral variation. This study will contribute to our understanding of how male-male competition and female mate choice shape a behaviorally complex mating system.