Genetic and temperature coupling between sender and receiver in acoustic biocommunication systems

Abstract

Male field crickets sing a species-specific calling song that attracts conspecific females for mating. Females must recognize the call of their own species and respond preferentially to it. Thus, communication requires the linkage between the output of a central pattern generator based motor system in the male and the auditory system of the female. In field crickets, communication through the calling song shows features of both genetic and temperature coupling. The implications of behavioral, genetic, and temperature coupling for the neural systems that underlie song production and song recognition are discussed