Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Sexual selection for sensory exploitation in the frog Physalaemus pustulosus

Nature volume 343, pages 66–67 (1990)Cite this article

Abstract

THE sensory bases of species and population mate preferences are well known1–3; in frogs properties of the female auditory system influence such preferences2,3. By contrast, there is little understanding of how sensory characteristics could result in sexual selection within a population. One possible mechanism is that females are more sensitive to male courtship signals that deviate from the population mean. We document this mechanism in the frog Physalaemus pustulosus. Female basilar papilla tuning is biased toward lower-than-average frequencies in the 'chuck' portion of the male's call, explaining female preference for the lower-frequency chucks produced by larger males. The tuning does not differ between P. pustulosus and its close relative P. coloradorum, a species in which males never evolved the ability to produce chucks; thus the female tuning evolved before the chuck and therefore the chuck played no role in the evolution of the preference. This allows us to reject two popular hypotheses for the evolution of this female preference (runaway sexual selection and natural selection) in favour of a third: sexual selection for sensory exploitation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alcock, J. Animal Behaviour (Sinauer, Sundertand, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ryan, M. J. Am Scient (in the press).

  3. Ryan, M. J. & Wilczynski, W. Science 240, 1786–1788 (1988).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ryan, M. J. Science 209, 523–525 (1980).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ryan, M. J. Evolution 37, 261–272 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Ryan, M. J. J. comp. Physiol. 150, 217–221 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ryan, M. J. The Tungara Frog, A Study in Sexual Selection and Communication (University of Chicago Press, 1985).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Rand, A. S. & Ryan, M. J. Z Tierpsychol. 57, 209–214 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Wilczynski, W. & Capranica, R. R. Prog. Neurobiol. 22, 1–30 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Zakon, H. H. & Wilczynski, W. in The Evolution of the Amphibian Auditory System (eds Fritzsch, B, Ryan, M. J., Wilczynski, W., Hetherington, T. E. & Walkowiak, W.) 125–155 (Wiley, New York, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Ryan, M. J. & Rand, A. S. Evolution (in the press).

  12. Fritzsch, B., Ryan, M. J., Wilczynski, W., Hetherington, T. E. & Walkowiak, W. eds The Evolution of the Amphibian Auditory System (Wiley, New York, 1988).

  13. Walkowiak, W., Capranica, R. R. & Schneider, H. Behav. Processes 6, 223–237 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Fisher, R. A. The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection 2nd edn (New York, Dover, 1958).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  15. Lande, R. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78, 3721–3725 (1981).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Kirkpartick, M. Evolution 36, 1–12 (1982).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Zahavi, A. J. theor. Biol. 53, 205–214 (1975).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Andersson, M. B. Evolution 40, 804–816 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. West-Eberhard, M. J. Proc. Am. phil. Soc. 123, 222–234 (1979).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Endler, J. A. & McClellan, T. A. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 19, 395–421 (1988).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Arak, A. in Mate Choice (ed. Bateson, P.) 181–210 (Cambridge University Press, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Ryan, M. J. Oxford Surv. Evol. Biol. (in the press).

  23. Cannatella, D. C. & Duellman, W. E. Copeia 1984, 902–921 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Ryan, M. J. & Drewes, R. C. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (in the press).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA

    Michael J. Ryan

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA

    James H. Fox & Walter Wilczynski

  3. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama

    A. Stanley Rand

Authors
  1. Michael J. Ryan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James H. Fox
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Walter Wilczynski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. A. Stanley Rand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ryan, M., Fox, J., Wilczynski, W. et al. Sexual selection for sensory exploitation in the frog Physalaemus pustulosus. Nature 343, 66–67 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/343066a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/343066a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing