Nutritional effects on male calling behaviour in the variable field cricket

Area of Science:

• Animal behavior
• Sexual selection
• Bioacoustics

Background:

• Female variable field crickets (Gryllus lineaticeps) prefer males with higher chirp rates and longer chirp durations.
• Higher chirp rates are energetically costly, but chirp duration is not.
• Nutrition's role in male song characteristics is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of nutrition on male Gryllus lineaticeps chirp rate and chirp duration.
• To determine if nutritional status influences energetically costly or independent components of male calling song.

Main Methods:

• Full-sibling male crickets were assigned to high- and low-nutrition diets.
• Body weight and weight change were monitored.
• Calling song parameters (chirp rate, chirp duration, pulse duration, dominant frequency) were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Nutrition did not affect male body weight or weight change.
• Males on high-nutrition diets exhibited higher calling frequencies and chirp rates.
• Chirp duration, pulse duration, and dominant frequency were not affected by nutrition.

Conclusions:

• Female preference for chirp rate is linked to male nutrition, while preference for chirp duration is not.
• Males allocate excess energy to energetically expensive, attractive song traits.
• This energy allocation strategy may explain the lack of correlation between body condition and song structure in field populations.