Variability of Female Responses to Conspecific vs. Heterospecific Male Mating Calls in Polygynous Deer: An Open Door to Hybridization?
Males of all polygynous deer species (Cervinae) give conspicuous calls during the reproductive season. The extreme interspecific diversity that characterizes these vocalizations suggests that they play a strong role in species discrimination. However, interbreeding between several species of Cervina...
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| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science
2011
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3160872/ |
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pubmed-3160872 |
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pubmed-31608722011-09-01 Variability of Female Responses to Conspecific vs. Heterospecific Male Mating Calls in Polygynous Deer: An Open Door to Hybridization? Wyman, Megan T. Charlton, Benjamin D. Locatelli, Yann Reby, David Research Article Males of all polygynous deer species (Cervinae) give conspicuous calls during the reproductive season. The extreme interspecific diversity that characterizes these vocalizations suggests that they play a strong role in species discrimination. However, interbreeding between several species of Cervinae indicates permeable interspecific reproductive barriers. This study examines the contribution of vocal behavior to female species discrimination and mating preferences in two closely related polygynous deer species known to hybridize in the wild after introductions. Specifically, we investigate the reaction of estrous female red deer (Cervus elaphus) to playbacks of red deer vs. sika deer (Cervus nippon) male mating calls, with the prediction that females will prefer conspecific calls. While on average female red deer preferred male red deer roars, two out of twenty females spent more time in close proximity to the speaker broadcasting male sika deer moans. We suggest that this absence of strict vocal preference for species-specific mating calls may contribute to the permeability of pre-zygotic reproductive barriers observed between these species. Our results also highlight the importance of examining inter-individual variation when studying the role of female preferences in species discrimination and intraspecific mate selection. Public Library of Science 2011-08-24 /pmc/articles/PMC3160872/ /pubmed/21887242 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023296 Text en Wyman et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Wyman, Megan T. Charlton, Benjamin D. Locatelli, Yann Reby, David |
| spellingShingle |
Wyman, Megan T. Charlton, Benjamin D. Locatelli, Yann Reby, David Variability of Female Responses to Conspecific vs. Heterospecific Male Mating Calls in Polygynous Deer: An Open Door to Hybridization? |
| author_facet |
Wyman, Megan T. Charlton, Benjamin D. Locatelli, Yann Reby, David |
| author_sort |
Wyman, Megan T. |
| title |
Variability of Female Responses to Conspecific vs. Heterospecific Male Mating Calls in Polygynous Deer: An Open Door to Hybridization? |
| title_short |
Variability of Female Responses to Conspecific vs. Heterospecific Male Mating Calls in Polygynous Deer: An Open Door to Hybridization? |
| title_full |
Variability of Female Responses to Conspecific vs. Heterospecific Male Mating Calls in Polygynous Deer: An Open Door to Hybridization? |
| title_fullStr |
Variability of Female Responses to Conspecific vs. Heterospecific Male Mating Calls in Polygynous Deer: An Open Door to Hybridization? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Variability of Female Responses to Conspecific vs. Heterospecific Male Mating Calls in Polygynous Deer: An Open Door to Hybridization? |
| title_sort |
variability of female responses to conspecific vs. heterospecific male mating calls in polygynous deer: an open door to hybridization? |
| description |
Males of all polygynous deer species (Cervinae) give conspicuous calls during the reproductive season. The extreme interspecific diversity that characterizes these vocalizations suggests that they play a strong role in species discrimination. However, interbreeding between several species of Cervinae indicates permeable interspecific reproductive barriers. This study examines the contribution of vocal behavior to female species discrimination and mating preferences in two closely related polygynous deer species known to hybridize in the wild after introductions. Specifically, we investigate the reaction of estrous female red deer (Cervus elaphus) to playbacks of red deer vs. sika deer (Cervus nippon) male mating calls, with the prediction that females will prefer conspecific calls. While on average female red deer preferred male red deer roars, two out of twenty females spent more time in close proximity to the speaker broadcasting male sika deer moans. We suggest that this absence of strict vocal preference for species-specific mating calls may contribute to the permeability of pre-zygotic reproductive barriers observed between these species. Our results also highlight the importance of examining inter-individual variation when studying the role of female preferences in species discrimination and intraspecific mate selection. |
| publisher |
Public Library of Science |
| publishDate |
2011 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3160872/ |
| _version_ |
1611472057075236864 |