Limited effects of traffic noise on behavioural responses to conspecific mating calls in the eastern sedge frog Litoria fallax

Charmaine P E Schou; Alexis L Levengood; Dominique A Potvin

doi:10.1007/s10211-021-00378-7

Back

Limited effects of traffic noise on behavioural responses to conspecific mating calls in the eastern sedge frog Litoria fallax

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Limited effects of traffic noise on behavioural responses to conspecific mating calls in the eastern sedge frog Litoria fallax

Charmaine P E Schou, Alexis L Levengood and Dominique A Potvin

Acta Ethologica, Vol.24(3), pp.217-226

2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-021-00378-7

PMCID: PMC8335461

PMID: 34366558

Files and links (1)

url

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-021-00378-7View

Published Version

Abstract

Anthropogenic noise

Mate choice

Bioacoustics

Litoria

Urbanization

Anthropogenic noise is a pervasive environmental feature across both urban and non-urban habitats and presents a novel challenge especially for acoustically communicating species. While it is known that some species adjust acoustic signals to communicate more effectively in noisy habitats, we know very little about how the receivers of these signals might be impacted by anthropogenic noise. Here, we investigated female and male Litoria fallax frogs' ability to distinguish between high- and low-quality acoustic signals during the presence of background traffic noise and without. We performed a controlled behavioural experiment whereby frogs were presented with simultaneously broadcasted attractive and unattractive calls from opposing directions, once with background traffic noise and once without. We found that females in particular chose the unattractive call significantly more often (and males significantly less often) when noise was being broadcast. This indicates that anthropogenic noise potentially affects receiver responses to acoustic signals, even when calls are not acoustically masked, with potential consequences for maladaptive mating behaviours and population outcomes.

Details

Title: Limited effects of traffic noise on behavioural responses to conspecific mating calls in the eastern sedge frog Litoria fallax
Authors: Charmaine P E Schou (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Alexis L Levengood (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Dominique A Potvin (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Publication details: Acta Ethologica, Vol.24(3), pp.217-226
Publisher: Springer
Date published: 2021
DOI: 10.1007/s10211-021-00378-7
ISSN: 1437-9546
PMID: 34366558; PMC8335461
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99569198502621
Output Type: Journal article

Metrics

48 Record Views

6 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Web Of Science research areas: Behavioral Sciences; Zoology

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: SDGs from InCites