User:Dyz30/sandbox

Mating Calls refer to the use of auditory signals in animals in order to attract mates. Mating calls are often the subject of mate choice, in which the preferences of one gender for a certain type of mating call can drive sexual selection in a species.

In Birds
The use of vocalizations is widespread in avian species and are often used to attract mates. Different aspects and features of bird song such as structure, amplitude and frequency have evolved as a result of sexual selection.

Large song repertoires are preferred by females of many avian species. One hypothesis for this is that song repertoire is positively correlated with the size of the brain’s song control nucleus (HVC). A large HVC would indicate developmental success. In song sparrows, males with large repertoires had larger HVCs, better body condition and lower heterophil-to-lymphocyte ratios indicating better immune health. This supports the idea that song sparrows with large song repertoires have better lifetime fitness and that song repertoires are honest indicators of the males “quality.” Possible explanations for this adaptation include direct benefits to the female, such as superior parental care or territory defense, and indirect benefits, such as good genes for their offspring.

Japanese bush warbler songs from island populations have an acoustically simple structure when compared to mainland populations. Song complexity is correlated with higher levels of sexual selection in mainland populations, showing that a more complex song structure is advantageous in an environment with high levels of sexual selection. Another example is in purple-crowned fairywrens; larger males of this species sing advertising songs at a lower frequency than smaller rival males. Since body size is a characteristic of good health, lower frequency calls are a form of honest signaling. Negative correlation between body size and call frequency is supported across multiple species within the taxa. In the rock sparrow, song frequency is positively associated with reproductive success. Slower song rate is associated with age and is preferred by females. Reproductive status of the individual is communicated through higher maximum frequency. There was also positive correlation between age and extra pair copulation frequency.

Bird calls are also known to continue after pair formation in several socially monogamous bird species. In one experimental population of zebra finches, there was increased singing activity by the male after breeding. This increase is positively correlated with the partner’s reproductive investment. The female finches were bred in cages with two subsequent males that differed with varying amounts of song output. Females produced larger eggs with more orange yolks when paired with a male with a high song output. This suggests that the relative amount of song production in paired zebra finch males might function to stimulate the partner rather than to attract extra-pair females.

In Mammals
During the breeding season, mammals will call out to the opposite sex. Male koalas that are bigger will let out a different sound than smaller koalas. The bigger males which are routinely sought out for are called sires. Females choose sires because of indirect benefits that their offspring could inherit, like larger bodies. Non-sires and females do not vary in their body mass and can reject a male by screaming or hitting him. Male-male competition is rarely exhibited in koalas. Acoustic signaling is a type of call that can be used from a significant distance encoding an organism’s location, condition and identity. Sac-winged bats display acoustic signaling, which is often interpreted as songs. When females hear these songs, named a ‘whistle’, they call onto the males to breed with a screech of their own. This action is termed ‘calling of the sexes’. Red deer and spotted hyenas along with other mammals also perform acoustic signaling.

In Amphibians
Many species of amphibians will use vocalization to attract members of the opposite sex; this is particularly common in frogs.

In the túngara frog, males use a whining call followed by up to seven clucks. Males who have a whine-cluck call are more successful in attracting females than males whose call is a whine alone. The ability to produce clucks is due to a specialized fibrous mass attached to the frog's vocal folds, creating an unusual vocalization similar to the two-voiced songs found in some birds.

In the common toad, sexual competition is driven in large part by fighting - successful males often physically displaced other males from the backs of a female in order to gain access to mating with that female. Larger males were more successful in such takeovers, and had higher reproductive success as a result. However, the vocalizations of these toads provide a reliable signal of body size and thus fighting ability, allowing contests for possession of females to be settled without risk of injury.

In Insects
While mating calls in insects are usually associated with mechanical mating calls, such as in crickets, several species of insects use vocalizations to attract mates. In the Asian corn borer, males emit clicking sounds that mimic the echolocation of bats which prey on the moths. They then take advantage of the female's "freezing" response to mate with the female.

In the Japanese lichen moth, however, the female is able to distinguish between the sounds made by males and those made by bats and other predators.As a result, the males use ultrasonic clicking as a more conventional mating signal, compared to the "deceptive" courtship song used in the Asian Corn Bearer.

Mechanical Calls
Mating calls also take form through mechanical processes. Animals that are unable to vocalize their call may use their body to attract mates.

In the field cricket, Gryllus integer, males rub their wings together to create a rapid trill that produces sound. Males individually vary in the durations of their trilling or, what is more sophisticatedly called, bout length. The bout length of each male is heritable and passed on to his future offspring. Also, females prefer to mate with males that have longer bout lengths. The end result is that males with longer bout lengths produce more offspring than males with shorter bout lengths.

Other factors that influence the formation of these bout lengths include temperature and predation. In field crickets, males prefer warmer sites for mating as shown by an increase in the frequency of their mating calls when they were living in warmer climates. Predation also affects the mating calls of field crickets. When in a potentially dangerous environment, males cease calling for longer periods of time when interrupted by a predator cue. This suggests that there is an interplay between intensity of mating call and risk of predation.

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jyousif11 Dyz30 Lauralewis15. Peer reviewers: Sydelstan.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 14:03, 18 January 2022 (UTC)