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Relationship of Body Characteristics and Steroid Hormone Levels with Frog Mating Behavior

thesis
posted on 2009-12-07, 00:00 authored by Emily Diane Lambeth
Corticosterone (CORT) is well known for its involvement in energy use and stress responses. Corticosterone peaks during frog mating, along with androgens. The relationships between endogenous CORT, androgens, body characteristics and male and female behaviors are still poorly understood. We studied these relationships in the gray tree frog, Hyla versicolor. Corticosterone dropped over the night of calling in males, while androgen was stable. Call properties were not correlated with hormone levels. Males with larger gonads were heavier with shorter intercall intervals. Longer males had longer intercall intervals. Amplexing males were longer and had heavier gonads. In female phonotaxis experiments, females with higher CORT levels were slower to reach the speaker. Thus, some body characteristics of males are associated with mating success or call properties. Our results in male treefrogs do not support the hypothesis that high CORT impairs mate success. In females, CORT may impair mate success.

History

Date Modified

2017-06-05

Research Director(s)

Sunny K. Boyd

Committee Members

John G. Duman Sunny K. Boyd Giles E. Duffield

Degree

  • Master of Science

Degree Level

  • Master's Thesis

Language

  • English

Alternate Identifier

etd-12072009-211600

Publisher

University of Notre Dame

Program Name

  • Biological Sciences

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