MONDAY MORNING, 28 NOVEMBER 2016 CORAL 4/5, 8:00 A.M. TO 10:00 A.M. Session 1aID Interdisciplinary: Opening Ceremonies, Plenary Lectures 1a MON. AM Whitlow Au, Cochair University of Hawaii, P.O. Box 1106, Kailua, HI 96734 Akio Ando, Cochair Electric and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Toyama, 3190 Gofuku, Toyama 930-8555, Japan Chair’s Introduction—8:00 Invited Papers 8:05 1aID1. Adventures of an expeditionary biologist: Neuroethology of ultrasonic communication in amphibians. Peter M. Narins (Integrative Biology & Physiol., UCLA, 621 Charles E. Young Dr. S., Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606,
[email protected]) Animal communication occurs when a signal generated by one individual is transmitted through an appropriate channel and results in a behavioral change in a second individual. We have explored specific morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations in a wide variety of taxa that appear to have evolved specifically to tailor and sculpt intraspecific communication systems. In this lecture, I will review one of these adaptational studies that involves two distantly related organisms: the concave-eared torrent frog (Odorrana tor- mota), calling near fast-flowing mountain streams of Anhui Province, Central China, and the endemic Bornean frog, Huia cavitympa- num, living in a very similar riverine habitat in Sarawak, Malaysia. In addition to the high-pitched audible components, these species’ calls contain previously unreported ultrasonic harmonics. Our studies of these two Asian frogs revealed that they communicate acousti- cally using ultrasound and that their auditory systems are sensitive up to 34-38 kHz. This extraordinary upward extension into the ultra- sonic range of both the harmonic content of the advertisement calls and the frogs’ hearing sensitivity is likely to have coevolved in response to the intense, predominately low-frequency ambient noise from local streams.