The effects of experience with different courtship modalities on unimodal and multimodal preferences in a wolf spider

Abstract

Females often benefit from the ability to assess courting males using multiple signal modalities. Differences in the transmission properties of each signal modality, however, may hinder a female's ability to detect signals, and result in variation in individual sensory experience. Such variation in sensory experience would include, for example, variation in courtship modality experience. It is unknown, however, whether differences in courtship modality experience affect preferences for unimodal and multimodal signals. We tested the effects of juvenile courtship modality experience on adult mate preferences in the wolf spider, Schizocosa ocreata (Hentz). Male S. ocreata use a combination of visual and vibratory signals as a multimodal signal, and female S. ocreata (without previous experience) have been shown to weigh unimodal vibratory and unimodal visual signals equally. Whether individual variation in courtship modality experience affects the relative weight of unimodal signals is unknown not only in S. ocreata, but is poorly understood across animal taxa. We used playback techniques to manipulate the courtship modality experience (unimodal visual signals, unimodal vibratory signals, multimodal signals, or no signals) of penultimate females. Upon maturation, we counted the number of receptivity displays towards each unimodal signal and a multimodal signal on three consecutive days of single presentation studies. In no-choice adult trials, courtship modality experience affected unimodal, but not multimodal, preferences. Female S. ocreata preferred the familiar unimodal signal in no-choice presentations (e.g. females exposed to vibratory signals were more receptive toward those signals). However, females preferred multimodal signals over unimodal signals, regardless of their juvenile courtship modality experience. In two-choice trials, female S. ocreata significantly preferred visual signals, regardless of their experience. Taken together, an individual's courtship modality experience has the ability to affect unimodal courtship preferences, but may be limited based on whether adult females are presented unimodal signals in no-choice or two-choice trials.