The potential role of reproductive interference in the decline of native green treefrogs following Cuban treefrog invasions

Kennedy, Joseph G. C.; Johnson, Steve A.; Brewer, J. Stephen; Leary, Christopher J.

doi:10.1007/s10530-020-02382-7

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 48 publications

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“…Given that the depletion of energy reserves can contribute to changes in mating tactic expression, we also estimated body condition for the behavioral phenotypes. Satellite-caller dynamics in this species have been studied extensively in the context of morphology, energetics, intra-and intersexual selection, fitness tradeoffs, density-dependence, and endocrine mediation of mating tactic expression (Crocker-Buta & Leary, 2018aLeary, , 2018bGarcia et al, 2019;Humfeld, 2008Humfeld, , 2013Kennedy et al, 2021;Leary, 2014;Leary et al, 2015Leary et al, , 2021Leary & Harris, 2013;Perrill et al, 1978Perrill et al, , 1982. However, as with most anurans studied, we still have a relatively poor understanding of how body size differences for behavioral phenotypes relate to age.…”

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confidence: 99%

Adoption of satellite behavior by small male green treefrogs, Dryophytes cinereus, is not associated with age: Implications for the maintenance of alternative behavioral phenotypes

Leary,

Crocker‐Buta,

Kennedy

et al. 2024

Ethology

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Body size is often a critical determinant of competitive ability and reproductive behavior. For example, small males characteristically lose contests with larger males and may be metabolically constrained from sustaining energetically demanding reproductive behaviors. Small males thus often utilize alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) to maximize their reproductive success. How variation in body size among behavioral phenotypes arises can provide important insight into the maintenance of ARTs. For instance, smaller body sizes for males adopting ARTs may simply be a function of age, suggesting that the tactic is maintained by the periodic recruitment of young males into the population. Alternatively, body size differences among behavioral phenotypes that are unrelated to age suggest disparate growth rates that potentially arise as a consequence of variation in environmental conditions during development or genotypic differences between the phenotypes. Here we examine these alternative scenarios in the green treefrog, Dryophytes cinereus, using skeletochronological analysis combined with body size measures. As with many other anuran amphibians, male green treefrogs conditionally adopt a noncalling satellite mating tactic and attempt to intercept females attracted to the vocalizations of calling “host” males. We show that males adopting satellite behavior in natural choruses are smaller than calling males but do not represent a class of younger individuals, indicating that satellite males have lower growth rates than calling males. We also show that satellite males are in poorer condition than larger calling males, implicating energetic constraints in size‐related variation in mating tactic expression. Our work suggests that environmental conditions during development, genetic differences between phenotypes, or both, give rise to size discrepancies in behavioral phenotypes, neither of which have been previously explored in anurans. We discuss body size and condition differences between behavioral phenotypes in the context of energetic constraints and endocrine mediation of tactic expression in this species.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adoption of satellite behavior by small male green treefrogs, Dryophytes cinereus, is not associated with age: Implications for the maintenance of alternative behavioral phenotypes

Leary,

Crocker‐Buta,

Kennedy

et al. 2024

Ethology

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Hormones and reproductive behavior in amphibians

Woodley,

Leary

2024

Hormones and Reproduction of Vertebrates, Volume 2

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Glucocorticoid-Mediated Changes in Male Green Treefrog Vocalizations Alter Attractiveness to Females

Leary

Crocker-Buta

Holloway

et al. 2021

Integrative and Comparative Biology

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Adrenal glucocorticoids are increasingly recognized as important modulators of male courtship signals, suggesting that circulating levels of these steroids can play a central role in sexual selection. However, few studies have examined whether glucocorticoid-mediated effects on male sexual signals actually impact mate choice by females. Here, we examine how corticosterone (CORT)-mediated changes in the vocalizations of male green treefrogs, Dryophytes cinereus, influence attractiveness to females. In this species, agonistic acoustic signaling between rival males competing for mates increases circulating CORT levels in contest losers. Acute elevations in CORT, in turn, decrease the duration of male advertisement calls and increase the latency between successive calls, resulting in a net reduction in vocal effort (the amount of signaling per unit time) that occurs independently of changes in circulating androgens. Based on known preferences for acoustic features in D. cinereus, and other anuran species, the direction of CORT-mediated effects on temporal call characteristics are expected to compromise attractiveness to females, but whether they are of sufficient magnitude to impact female mate choice decisions is unclear. To examine whether CORT-mediated effects on male advertisement calls reduce attractiveness to females, we broadcast vocalizations in dual speaker playback experiments approximating the mean and 1SD above and below the mean call duration and vocal effort values (the two primary vocal features impacted by elevated CORT) of males with low and high CORT levels. Results revealed strong preferences by females for the calls characteristic of males with low CORT in tests using the approximate mean and 1SD above the mean call duration and vocal effort values, but females did not show a preference for calls of males with low CORT in trials using call values approximating 1SD below the mean. Overall, females preferred males with signal traits predictive of low CORT, however this effect was nonlinear with attenuated preferences when signal alternatives differed only marginally indicating a possible thresholding effect. Specifically, females appeared to discriminate between males with low vs. high CORT based primarily on differences in call rates associated with CORT-mediated changes in call duration and vocal effort. Our results highlight that changes in circulating CORT during male-male vocal interactions can decrease attractiveness to females, suggesting that circulating levels of CORT can play a critical role in both intra- and intersexual selection.

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The potential role of reproductive interference in the decline of native green treefrogs following Cuban treefrog invasions

Cited by 3 publications

References 48 publications

Adoption of satellite behavior by small male green treefrogs, Dryophytes cinereus, is not associated with age: Implications for the maintenance of alternative behavioral phenotypes

Adoption of satellite behavior by small male green treefrogs, Dryophytes cinereus, is not associated with age: Implications for the maintenance of alternative behavioral phenotypes

Hormones and reproductive behavior in amphibians

Glucocorticoid-Mediated Changes in Male Green Treefrog Vocalizations Alter Attractiveness to Females

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