The calling song of the field cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus (de geer): constraints on transmission and its role in intermale competition and female choice

Abstract

Field studies of calling male field crickets, Gryllus bimaculatus, showed that males formed calling aggregations. Within aggregations males appeared to maintain an exclusive female-attraction zone about their burrows; calling song may thus serve as an aggressive signal to neighbouring males to maintain spacing. Calling song attenuates with distance. Furthermore, calls became degraded with distance by the loss of low frequency components and a reduction in the interval between chirps and pulses due to reverberation. Playback experiments suggested that the predictable degrading properties of the call may serve as a distance-finding mechanism maintaining observed male spacing. The intensity of calls and the repetition rate of chirps and pulses was positively correlated with male size. While information contained within the intensity parameter of calls may prove unreliable due to unpredictable attenuation and irregular amplitude fluctuations, the repetition rate of chirps and pulses was not affected by distance degradation. Playback experiments in which intensity was controlled suggested that females orientate preferentially to the calls of large males.