Department of Biological Sciences, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, USA.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Integr Comp Biol. 2021 Jul 23;61(1):221-230. doi: 10.1093/icb/icab042.
Multimodal communication is common in the animal kingdom. It occurs when animals display by stimulating two or more receiver sensory systems, and often arises when selection favors multiple ways to send messages to conspecifics. Mechanisms of multimodal display behavior are poorly understood, particularly with respect to how animals coordinate the production of different signals. One important question is whether all components in a multimodal display share an underlying physiological basis, or whether different components are regulated independently. We investigated the influence of androgen receptors (ARs) on the production of both visual and vocal signal components in the multimodal display repertoire of the Bornean rock frog (Staurois parvus). To assess the role of AR in signal production, we treated reproductively active adult males with the antiandrogen flutamide (FLUT) and measured the performance of each component signal in the multimodal display. Our results show that blocking AR inhibited the production of multiple visual signals, including a conspicuous visual signal known as the "foot flag," which is produced by rotating the hind limb above the body. However, FLUT treatment caused no measurable change in vocal signaling behavior, or in the frequency or fine temporal properties of males' calls. Our study, therefore, suggests that activation of AR is not a physiological prerequisite to the coordination of multiple signals, in that it either does not regulate all signaling behaviors in a male's display repertoire or it does so only in a context-dependent manner.
多模态通讯在动物王国中很常见。当动物通过刺激两个或更多的受体感觉系统来展示时，就会发生这种情况，而且通常发生在选择有利于向同种动物发送多种信息的情况下。多模态显示行为的机制还了解甚少，特别是关于动物如何协调不同信号的产生。一个重要的问题是，多模态显示中的所有组件是否共享一个潜在的生理基础，或者不同的组件是否独立调节。我们研究了雄激素受体（AR）对多模态显示中视觉和声音信号组件产生的影响，研究对象是婆罗洲岩蛙（Staurois parvus）的多模态显示。为了评估 AR 在信号产生中的作用，我们用抗雄激素氟他胺（FLUT）处理生殖活跃的成年雄性，并测量多模态显示中每个信号组件的性能。我们的结果表明，阻断 AR 会抑制多种视觉信号的产生，包括一种显眼的视觉信号，称为“脚旗”，这是通过将后腿旋转到身体上方来产生的。然而，FLUT 处理对发声信号行为或雄性叫声的频率或精细时间特性没有产生可测量的变化。因此，我们的研究表明，AR 的激活不是协调多种信号的生理前提，因为它要么不调节雄性显示中所有的信号行为，要么只是以依赖于上下文的方式调节。
