Abstract
Some territorial animals recognize familiar neighbours and are less aggressive to established neighbours than they are to strangers. This form of social recognition produces a ‘dear enemy’ effect, which may allow animals to reduce the costs of territory defence. The dear enemy effect is thought to reflect either the decreased threat posed by neighbours relative to strangers (the relative threat hypothesis) or the decreased need for escalation with increasing familiarity between neighbours (the familiarity hypothesis). We tested for a vocally mediated dear enemy effect in male brilliant-thighed poison frogs, Allobates femoralis. In this species, the familiarity hypothesis predicts a dear enemy effect, because males defend long-term stable territories and should be familiar with the calls of their neighbours. In contrast, the relative threat hypothesis does not predict a dear enemy effect, because neighbours and strangers both represent competitors for mates and likely pose equivalent threats. Acoustic analyses showed that males produce individually distinctive advertisement calls. Two playback experiments were conducted to determine whether territorial males respond less aggressively to neighbours' calls than to strangers' calls based on this acoustic identity information. In the first experiment, males pursued acoustically simulated neighbours and strangers to similar distances when calls were played both from the direction of the neighbour's territory and from a direction with no neighbours. In the second experiment, males responded aggressively to neighbours' and strangers' calls at similar threshold amplitudes and pursued these calls to similar distances. Hence, two different playback experiments failed to find evidence of a vocally mediated dear enemy effect. Our results support the hypothesis that territorial animals respond to the relative threat posed by neighbours and strangers regardless of their level of familiarity with neighbours.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 203-220 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Animal Behaviour |
| Volume | 141 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1 2018 |
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Keywords
- Allobates femoralis
- advertisement call
- dear enemy effect
- identity information
- poison frog
- social recognition
- territory defence
- vocal communication
Cite this
Brilliant-thighed poison frogs do not use acoustic identity information to treat territorial neighbours as dear enemies. / Tumulty, James P.; Pašukonis, Andrius; Ringler, Max; Forester, James D; Hödl, Walter; Bee, Mark A.
In: Animal Behaviour, Vol. 141, 01.07.2018, p. 203-220.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Brilliant-thighed poison frogs do not use acoustic identity information to treat territorial neighbours as dear enemies
AU - Tumulty, James P.
AU - Pašukonis, Andrius
AU - Ringler, Max
AU - Forester, James D
AU - Hödl, Walter
AU - Bee, Mark A
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - Some territorial animals recognize familiar neighbours and are less aggressive to established neighbours than they are to strangers. This form of social recognition produces a ‘dear enemy’ effect, which may allow animals to reduce the costs of territory defence. The dear enemy effect is thought to reflect either the decreased threat posed by neighbours relative to strangers (the relative threat hypothesis) or the decreased need for escalation with increasing familiarity between neighbours (the familiarity hypothesis). We tested for a vocally mediated dear enemy effect in male brilliant-thighed poison frogs, Allobates femoralis. In this species, the familiarity hypothesis predicts a dear enemy effect, because males defend long-term stable territories and should be familiar with the calls of their neighbours. In contrast, the relative threat hypothesis does not predict a dear enemy effect, because neighbours and strangers both represent competitors for mates and likely pose equivalent threats. Acoustic analyses showed that males produce individually distinctive advertisement calls. Two playback experiments were conducted to determine whether territorial males respond less aggressively to neighbours' calls than to strangers' calls based on this acoustic identity information. In the first experiment, males pursued acoustically simulated neighbours and strangers to similar distances when calls were played both from the direction of the neighbour's territory and from a direction with no neighbours. In the second experiment, males responded aggressively to neighbours' and strangers' calls at similar threshold amplitudes and pursued these calls to similar distances. Hence, two different playback experiments failed to find evidence of a vocally mediated dear enemy effect. Our results support the hypothesis that territorial animals respond to the relative threat posed by neighbours and strangers regardless of their level of familiarity with neighbours.
AB - Some territorial animals recognize familiar neighbours and are less aggressive to established neighbours than they are to strangers. This form of social recognition produces a ‘dear enemy’ effect, which may allow animals to reduce the costs of territory defence. The dear enemy effect is thought to reflect either the decreased threat posed by neighbours relative to strangers (the relative threat hypothesis) or the decreased need for escalation with increasing familiarity between neighbours (the familiarity hypothesis). We tested for a vocally mediated dear enemy effect in male brilliant-thighed poison frogs, Allobates femoralis. In this species, the familiarity hypothesis predicts a dear enemy effect, because males defend long-term stable territories and should be familiar with the calls of their neighbours. In contrast, the relative threat hypothesis does not predict a dear enemy effect, because neighbours and strangers both represent competitors for mates and likely pose equivalent threats. Acoustic analyses showed that males produce individually distinctive advertisement calls. Two playback experiments were conducted to determine whether territorial males respond less aggressively to neighbours' calls than to strangers' calls based on this acoustic identity information. In the first experiment, males pursued acoustically simulated neighbours and strangers to similar distances when calls were played both from the direction of the neighbour's territory and from a direction with no neighbours. In the second experiment, males responded aggressively to neighbours' and strangers' calls at similar threshold amplitudes and pursued these calls to similar distances. Hence, two different playback experiments failed to find evidence of a vocally mediated dear enemy effect. Our results support the hypothesis that territorial animals respond to the relative threat posed by neighbours and strangers regardless of their level of familiarity with neighbours.
KW - Allobates femoralis
KW - advertisement call
KW - dear enemy effect
KW - identity information
KW - poison frog
KW - social recognition
KW - territory defence
KW - vocal communication
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049040986&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85049040986&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.05.008
DO - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.05.008
M3 - Article
VL - 141
SP - 203
EP - 220
JO - Animal Behaviour
JF - Animal Behaviour
SN - 0003-3472
ER -