Mate choice in the eye and ear of the beholder? Female multimodal sensory configuration influences her preferences.

ABSTRACT: A common assumption in sexual selection studies is that receivers decode signal information similarly. However, receivers may vary in how they rank signallers if signal perception varies with an individual's sensory configuration. Furthermore, receivers may vary in their weighting of different elements of multimodal signals based on their sensory configuration. This could lead to complex levels of selection on signalling traits. We tested whether multimodal sensory configuration could affect preferences for multimodal signals. We used brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) females to examine how auditory sensitivity and auditory filters, which influence auditory spectral and temporal resolution, affect song preferences, and how visual spatial resolution and visual temporal resolution

SUBMITTER: Ronald KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5966616 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature