Research Symposium

25th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 1, 2025

Ruby Moore Poster Session 4: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm / Poster #261


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BIO


I am a junior at Florida State University majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry. I am interested in evolutionary ecology research, and am currently doing my Honors in the Major project in the Lemmon Lab with Dr. Emily Lemmon.

Testing the Effects of Reproductive Character Displacement on Breeding Ecology of Upland Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris feriarum)

Authors: Ruby Moore, Emily Lemmon
Student Major: Biology
Mentor: Emily Lemmon
Mentor's Department: Biological Sciences
Mentor's College: Florida State University
Co-Presenters:

Abstract


Within the southeastern United States are two species of the genus Pseudacris found to hybridize: Pseudacris feriarum and P. nigrita (Lemmon 2009). Hybrids of these species are less fit, and hybrid males are partially sterile (Lemmon 2010). Because hybridization is maladaptive, females have evolved to prefer calls of conspecific males that are more different from that of the heterospecifics (Lemmon 2009). The divergent preferences of P. feriarum females have caused males to evolve more energetically costly calls (Lemmon 2009). Considering that mating signals for male anurans is their most energetically costly activity performed (Wells 2007), I predict that greater energetic costs to P. feriarum male signaling could potentially lead to a decrease in the nightly duration of male signaling time, a shortening of the length of the annual breeding season, and/or increased intensity of breeding on the active nights (i.e., more dense choruses). To test these predictions, we are passively monitoring acoustic signaling behavior of frog choruses in six natural populations in Florida and Georgia.

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Keywords: Bioacoustics, frogs, ecology