The impact of different forms of noise on female mate choice in the Australian black field cricket (Teleogryllus commodus)

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of anthropogenic noise presents a new selection pressure that is rapidly changing the acoustic landscape in which animal signals have adapted. Increasing noise levels can impact an animal’s ability to use acoustic cues and signals to properly assess their environment or recognize, localize, and evaluate a potential mate, leading to decreases in fitness and survivorship. Anthropogenic noise outside the range of the human sensory system is often overlooked. Therefore, it is important to understand how noise in multiple modalities may disrupt informed decision making. Crickets can detect airborne noise in the low and high frequencies as well as substrate-borne vibrations and rely on detecting airborne calls to successfully assess potential mates. A systematic approach was used to test the behavioral response of Australian black field crickets (Teleogryllus commodus) under variable noise conditions, with the aim of understanding how female choice is influenced by multisensory noise. Playback trials in the laboratory were performed to examine how noise in all three forms influenced female mate choice. This study will expand our knowledge of the effects of anthropogenic noise on an understudied taxa and highlight why we need to consider the animal’s sensory system sensitivity when studying noise.