Does the quality of rival song affect the structure of cricket aggressive calls?

Abstract

Male crickets utilize calls prior to aggressive encounters with other males in order to gain a fitness advantage without resulting in costly physical altercation. In our study we looked at whether male house crickets (Acheta domesticus) changed specific call parameters in response to males that were perceived as being strong or weak through synthetic call playback. Our findings lend support to previous studies showing that there is a significant positive linear relationship between pulse duration and male linear size as well as condition. We also show that males do not change their call structures in response to males they perceived as strong or weak, and we offer evidence that male house crickets are actually physically constrained, and thus the signals produced are good indicators of resource holding potential (RHP).