Vibroscape analysis reveals acoustic niche overlap and plastic alteration of vibratory courtship signals in ground-dwelling wolf spiders

Authors

Noori Choi
Pat Miller, University of Mississippi field station associate
Eileen A. Hebets, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

1-5-2024

Citation

COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY | (2024) 7:23 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05700-6

Comments

Open access.

Abstract

To expand the scope of soundscape ecology to encompass substrate-borne vibrations (i.e. vibroscapes), we analyzed the vibroscape of a deciduous forest floor using contact microphone arrays followed by automated processing of large audio datasets. We then focused on vibratory signaling of ground-dwelling Schizocosa wolf spiders to test for (i) acoustic niche partitioning and (ii) plastic behavioral responses that might reduce the risk of signal interference from substrate-borne noise and conspecific/heterospecific signaling. Two closely related species - S. stridulans and S. uetzi - showed high acoustic niche overlap across space, time, and dominant frequency. Both species show plastic behavioral responses - S. uetzi males shorten their courtship in higher abundance of substrate-borne noise, S. stridulans males increased the duration of their vibratory courtship signals in a higher abundance of conspecific signals, and S. stridulans males decreased vibratory signal complexity in a higher abundance of S. uetzi signals.