12月7日,，英國皇家學(xué)會《生物學(xué)快報》（Biology Letters）發(fā)表了中科院成都生物所兩棲爬行動物研究室唐業(yè)忠課題組的研究成果。研究人員通過對仙琴蛙長達兩年的研究發(fā)現(xiàn),，有巢穴的雄性仙琴蛙更容易吸引雌蛙,。
通常情況下，青蛙在水塘里繁衍后代,，很少有筑窩的習性,。該課題組博士崔建國卻在一次野外調(diào)查中偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)，到了繁殖季節(jié),，雄性仙琴蛙會在水塘邊建造“房屋”,，然后在洞內(nèi)鳴叫，以吸引雌蛙前來交配產(chǎn)卵,。于是,，崔建國大膽假設(shè)：雄蛙是利用鳴聲向雌蛙傳遞巢穴的信息，而雌蛙通過鳴聲選擇有“房”的雄蛙作為配偶,。
為驗證雄蛙“廣告”鳴叫中是否包含有巢穴信息,，崔建國做了兩組設(shè)計實驗,。第一組錄制了30只雄蛙洞內(nèi)鳴叫聲和20只雄蛙洞外鳴叫聲，經(jīng)過比較發(fā)現(xiàn),，洞內(nèi)雄蛙鳴叫聲音低沉渾厚且鳴叫持續(xù)時間更長,。第二組錄制了7只雄蛙在洞內(nèi)洞外的鳴叫聲，其結(jié)果與第一組類似,。
崔建國還發(fā)現(xiàn),，巢穴洞口越小，雄蛙鳴叫頻率越低,，洞穴越深音節(jié)則持續(xù)時間越長,。“鳴叫在一定程度上反映了巢穴的特征。”崔建國說,。
那么,，雌蛙又是如何選擇雄蛙的？是否更傾向于有“房”的雄蛙作為配偶呢,？崔建國對47只雌蛙做了趨聲性實驗,。他將雌蛙放在大塑料箱里，在塑料箱兩側(cè)一定距離內(nèi)分別用音響輪流播放雄蛙洞內(nèi)鳴叫和洞外鳴叫,，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn),，70%的雌蛙會選擇洞內(nèi)鳴聲。
“這表明雌蛙通過鳴聲信息判斷雄性是否有房來選擇配偶,，以增加適應(yīng)度,。”崔建國告訴記者，下一步課題組將對雌蛙是否能精確估計“房子”的質(zhì)量進行研究,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.1091
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Real estate ads in Emei music frog vocalizations: female preference for calls emanating from burrows
Cui, Jianguo; Tang, Yezhong; Narins, Peter M.
During female mate choice, both the male's phenotype and resources (e.g. his nest) contribute to the chooser's fitness. Animalsother than humans are not known to advertise resource characteristics to potential mates through vocal communication; althoughin some species of anurans and birds, females do evaluate male qualities through vocal communication. Here, we demonstratethat calls of the male Emei music frog (Babina dauchina), vocalizing from male-built nests, reflect nest structure information that can be recognized by females. Inside-nest callsconsisted of notes with energy concentrated at lower frequency ranges and longer note durations when compared with outside-nestcalls. Centre frequencies and note durations of the inside calls positively correlate with the area of the burrow entranceand the depth of the burrow, respectively. When given a choice between outside and inside calls played back alternately, morethan 70 per cent of the females (33/47) chose inside calls. These results demonstrate that males of this species faithfullyadvertise whether or not they possess a nest to potential mates by vocal communication, which probably facilitates optimalmate selection by females. These results revealed a novel function of advertisement calls, which is consistent with the widevariation in both call complexity and social behaviour within amphibians.
