Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Sci Rep. 2017 Sep 5;7(1):10539. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-11150-y.
Many animals use sounds produced by conspecifics for mate identification. Female insects and anuran amphibians, for instance, use acoustic cues to localize, orient toward and approach conspecific males prior to mating. Here we present a novel technique that utilizes multiple, distributed sound-indication devices and a miniature LED backpack to visualize and record the nocturnal phonotactic approach of females of the Australian orange-eyed tree frog (Litoria chloris) both in a laboratory arena and in the animal's natural habitat. Continuous high-definition digital recording of the LED coordinates provides automatic tracking of the female's position, and the illumination patterns of the sound-indication devices allow us to discriminate multiple sound sources including loudspeakers broadcasting calls as well as calls emitted by individual male frogs. This innovative methodology is widely applicable for the study of phonotaxis and spatial structures of acoustically communicating nocturnal animals.
许多动物使用同种个体发出的声音来识别配偶。例如，雌性昆虫和蛙类两栖动物在交配前会利用声学线索来定位、朝向和接近同种雄性。在这里，我们提出了一种新的技术，该技术利用多个分布式声音指示设备和一个微型 LED 背包，在实验室竞技场和动物的自然栖息地中可视化和记录澳大利亚橙色眼树蛙（Litoria chloris）雌性的夜间声向接近行为。连续的高清晰度数字记录 LED 坐标提供了对雌性位置的自动跟踪，并且声音指示设备的照明模式允许我们区分多个声源，包括广播叫声的扬声器以及单个雄性青蛙发出的叫声。这种创新的方法广泛适用于研究夜间发声动物的声向性和声音通讯的空间结构。
