Summary
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1.
A number of predators, including a bat (Trachops cirrhosus), a frog (Leptodactylus pentadactylus), an opossum (Philander opossum), and a crab (Potamocarcinus richmondi), prey on the neotropical frog Physalaemus pustulosus, which calls in choruses on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.
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2.
Predation rate (no. of frogs eaten/h of observation) and predation risk to individuals (predation rate/chorus size) were determined for choruses of various sizes. There was no correlation between chorus size and predation rate, but there was a significant negative correlation between chorus size and predation risk.
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3.
There was a significant correlation between the number of females present and chorus size (i.e., number of males). A second order regression indicates that the proportion of females to males, the operational sex ratio, tends to increase with chorus size; thus, males have a higher probability of mating in larger choruses.
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4.
We suggest that the benefits of lower predation risk and higher mating probabilities associated with larger choruses were responsible for the evolution of communal sexual display in Physalaemus pustulosus.
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5.
A cost-benefit model predicts that the size of males that join choruses is influenced by the asymmetric benefits related to male size and the behavior of other males in the population.
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Ryan, M.J., Tuttle, M.D. & Taft, L.K. The costs and benefits of frog chorusing behavior. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 8, 273–278 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299526
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299526