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Reproductive stage and phonotactic preferences of female midwife toads (Alytes cisternasii)

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Abstract

We studied the phonotactic response of Alytes cisternasii females at different reproductive stages (before and after oviposition) toward two male call characteristics (call rate and frequency) differing in variability, as well as in the strength of female preference. We measured female phonotactic response over several repetitions by means of the frequency of selection of the population-preferred alternative, consistency of choice, frequency of reciprocal calling activity, frequency of null trials, and average approach time. Our results showed that female mating preferences in A. cisternasii are highly influenced by the variability of male call characteristics, while only female motivation is related to reproductive stage.

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Acknowledgements

We thank W. Wilczynski, E. Albert, I. Martínez-Solano, M. García-París and three anonymous reviewers for constructive remarks on the manuscript. The first author is supported by the Ramón y Cajal program from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Spain). The second author is supported by a postdoctor grant from the MEC (Spain) cofinanced by the European Social Fund. Partial funding was provided by project BOS2003-01413 (MCYT) (PI: J. Bosch). The Consejería de Medio Ambiente of Junta de Extremadura kindly extended permits for fieldwork. All animal experimentation was conducted in accordance with the legal standards of Spain.

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  1. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Jaime Bosch & Luz Boyero

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  1. Jaime Bosch
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  2. Luz Boyero
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Correspondence to Jaime Bosch.

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Communicated by T. Czeschlik

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Bosch, J., Boyero, L. Reproductive stage and phonotactic preferences of female midwife toads (Alytes cisternasii). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 55, 251–256 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0699-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0699-8

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