Plasticity of mating calls in hyla japonica (Amphibia: Hylidae)

Abstract

Hyla japonica males were observed to produce two distinctively different types of mating calls: advertisement call to attract conspecific females and encounter call to keep off potential competitor males. Whereas advertisement calls were organized in bouts of calls or notes, encounter calls were usually produced as separate calls. Encounter calls were much longer and had more pulses per call than advertisement calls. However, dominant frequencies or pitches of the two calls did not differ significantly. Hyla japonica males exhibited considerable plasticity in their calling behavior. They altered both qualitative and quantitative properties of their calls in response to other calling males. Sometimes, they even switched from producing advertisement calls to encounter calls. Advertisement calls produced by chorusing males were shorter in duration and thus more calls per bout than those produced by lone males. Males also produced much lower-pitched calls when calling together with other males. Considering that low pitch calls are often highly correlated with body size, it is possible that H. japonica males may try to generate deceptive calls to indicate the size greater than the actual.