Psm. Hill, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON CALLING EFFORT IN THE PRAIRIE MOLE CRICKET (GRYLLOTALPA MAJOR), Behavioral ecology, 9(1), 1998, pp. 101-108
Sexual advertisement in the form of acoustic display is energetically
expensive. Calling effort, or metabolic energy expended specifically f
or advertisement, is adjusted in some species in response to competiti
on from other males or to changes in climatic conditions. The prairie
mole cricket (Gryllotalpa major) is a rare insect of the south-central
United States that produces its calling song, or advertisement call,
from a specially constructed burrow in tallgrass prairie soil. I found
that prairie mole cricket males do not adjust their call amplitude wi
th competition or female availability, nor do they vary amplitude with
soil temperature or moisture within their established range of callin
g conditions. Chirp rate adjustments were made with social interaction
s and changes in soil temperature, but group size did not influence ca
lling effort. Males produced more complex calls in response to closer
calling neighbors, but prairie mole cricket males may selectively resp
ond to only the nearest one to two neighbors.