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A lateralized functional auditory network is involved in anuran sexual selection

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Abstract

Right ear advantage (REA) exists in many land vertebrates in which the right ear and left hemisphere preferentially process conspecific acoustic stimuli such as those related to sexual selection. Although ecological and neural mechanisms for sexual selection have been widely studied, the brain networks involved are still poorly understood. In this study we used multi-channel electroencephalographic data in combination with Granger causal connectivity analysis to demonstrate, for the first time, that auditory neural network interconnecting the left and right midbrain and forebrain function asymmetrically in the Emei music frog (Babina daunchina), an anuran species which exhibits REA. The results showed the network was lateralized. Ascending connections between the mesencephalon and telencephalon were stronger in the left side while descending ones were stronger in the right, which matched with the REA in this species and implied that inhibition from the forebrain may induce REA partly. Connections from the telencephalon to ipsilateral mesencephalon in response to white noise were the highest in the non-reproductive stage while those to advertisement calls were the highest in reproductive stage, implying the attention resources and living strategy shift when entered the reproductive season. Finally, these connection changes were sexually dimorphic, revealing sex differences in reproductive roles.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge all the members of the Behavioral Neuroscience Group for their discussion and help in the experiments reported here. This work was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31372217 and No. 31672305) to GF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Herpetology, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, P.R. China

    Fei Xue, Guangzhan Fang, Xizi Yue, Ermi Zhao & Yezhong Tang

  2. Key laboratory of Bio-resources and Eco-environment, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, P.R. China

    Fei Xue & Ermi Zhao

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Steven E Brauth

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  1. Fei Xue
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  2. Guangzhan Fang
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  3. Xizi Yue
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  5. Steven E Brauth
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  6. Yezhong Tang
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Correspondence to Guangzhan Fang.

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Corresponding editor: Neeraj Jain

[Xue F, Fang G, Yue X, Zhao E, Brauth SE and Tang Y 2016 A lateralized functional auditory network is involved in anuran sexual selection. J. Biosci.]

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Xue, F., Fang, G., Yue, X. et al. A lateralized functional auditory network is involved in anuran sexual selection. J Biosci 41, 713–726 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-016-9638-5

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