Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Lay Summary
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (12)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Murphy, C. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Murphy, C. G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Behavioral Ecology Vol. 14 No. 2: 274-281
© 2003 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

The cause of correlations between nightly numbers of male and female barking treefrogs (Hyla gratiosa) attending choruses

Christopher G. Murphy

Department of Biology, James Madison University, MSC 7801, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA

Address correspondence to C.G. Murphy. E-mail: murphycg{at}jmu.edu.

The number of males displaying in a lek or chorus each day is often positively correlated with the number of females visiting or mating in the aggregation. I tested hypotheses that might explain such correlations in a study of the barking treefrog (Hyla gratiosa). Experimental reduction of the number of calling males did not reduce female visitation, ruling out the hypothesis that such correlations are owing to female preference for, or passive attraction to, larger choruses. Separate regression of the numbers of males and females on 13 environmental variables explained 45–74% of the variance in the nightly numbers of males and females. Partial regression coefficients for most of the 13 variables were not significantly different between the sexes, and the relative importance of variables in explaining variation in the numbers of individuals was similar for both sexes. These results support the hypothesis that positive correlations between nightly numbers of males and females are owing to a similar response by both sexes to the same environmental variables. Thus, it appears that the intense sounds emanating from choruses of H. gratiosa do not function in long-range communication and may instead be an epiphenomenon of intense, short-range vocal competition for females.

Key words: anuran amphibians, attendance, choruses, correlations, environmental variables, leks, mating success.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.