Marler C A, Chu J, Wilczynski W
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin 78712, USA.
Horm Behav. 1995 Dec;29(4):554-70. doi: 10.1006/hbeh.1995.1286.
Male cricket frogs, Acris crepitans communicate to males and females using advertisement calls, which are arranged into call groups. Calls at the middle and end, but not beginning of the call group, are modified in response to male-male aggressive interactions. We found in this field study of male cricket frogs in natural breeding choruses that the peptide hormone arginine vasotocin (AVT) not only increased the probability that males called after injections, but also caused modifications in middle and end calls to produce calls characteristic of less aggressive males. Moreover, AVT-injected males showed significantly greater increases in call dominant frequency than saline-injected males, again, a characteristic of less aggressive males. Cricket frog calls are used to both repel males and attract females, thus call changes may relate to male-male and/or male-female interactions. Saline-injected males also demonstrated significant changes in several call traits, including changes that occurred in the beginning and middle calls of the call groups, but not the end calls. AVT appeared to block some call changes produced through handling. These data suggest that AVT can influence acoustic communication in frogs in several ways, including effects on call characteristics and dominant frequency, as well as potentially blocking some handling effects.
雄性蟋蟀蛙（Acris crepitans）通过广告鸣叫与雄性和雌性进行交流，这些鸣叫被组织成鸣叫组。在鸣叫组的中间和结尾部分的鸣叫，而非开头部分的鸣叫，会因雄性间的攻击性互动而发生改变。在对自然繁殖群体中的雄性蟋蟀蛙进行的这项野外研究中，我们发现肽类激素精氨酸血管催产素（AVT）不仅增加了注射后雄性鸣叫的概率，还导致中间和结尾部分的鸣叫发生改变，产生了攻击性较弱的雄性的典型鸣叫。此外，注射AVT的雄性在鸣叫主频上的增加幅度显著大于注射生理盐水的雄性，这同样是攻击性较弱的雄性的一个特征。蟋蟀蛙的鸣叫既用于驱赶雄性，也用于吸引雌性，因此鸣叫的变化可能与雄性间和/或雄性与雌性间的互动有关。注射生理盐水的雄性在几个鸣叫特征上也表现出显著变化，包括鸣叫组开头和中间部分的鸣叫变化，但结尾部分的鸣叫没有变化。AVT似乎能阻止一些因处理而产生的鸣叫变化。这些数据表明，AVT可以通过多种方式影响青蛙的声学交流，包括对鸣叫特征和主频的影响，以及可能阻止一些处理效应。
