Stay tuned: active amplification tunes tree cricket ears to track temperature-dependent song frequency.
Tree cricket males produce tonal songs, used for mate attraction and male-male interactions. Active mechanics tunes hearing to conspecific song frequency. However, tree cricket song frequency increases with temperature, presenting a problem for tuned listeners. We show that the actively amplified frequency increases with temperature, thus shifting mechanical and neuronal auditory tuning to maintain a match with conspecific song frequency. Active auditory processes are known from several taxa, but their adaptive function has rarely been demonstrated. We show that tree crickets harness active processes to ensure that auditory tuning remains matched to conspecific song frequency, despite changing environmental conditions and signal characteristics. Adaptive tuning allows tree crickets to selectively detect potential mates or rivals over large distances and is likely to bestow a strong selective advantage by reducing mate-finding effort and facilitating intermale interactions.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Scarborough, Canada M1C 1A4 natasha.mhatre@gmail.com.
Natasha
0000-0002-3618-306X
N
Mhatre
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Scarborough, Canada M1C 1A4.
Gerald
G
Pollack
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Scarborough, Canada M1C 1A4.
Andrew
A
Mason
D000162:Acoustics; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception; D004423:Ear / Q000502:physiology; D006135:Gryllidae / Q000502:physiology*; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D013016:Sound; D013696:Temperature; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
active auditory amplification; active hearing; auditory tuning; matched filters; sensory ecology; tree crickets