The role of bioacoustic signals in koala sexual selection: Insights from seasonal patterns of associations revealed with GPS-proximity units
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Date Issued
2015Author
Ellis, William A.FitzGibbon, Sean
Pye, Geoffrey W.
Whipple, Bill
Barth, Ben
Johnston, Stephen
Seddon, Jenny
Melzer, Alistair
Higgins, Damien
Bercovitch, Fred B.
Subject Terms
KOALASSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
BIOACOUSTICS
REPRODUCTION
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
VOCALIZATIONS
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS
TRACKING
AUSTRALIA
Journal
PLOS ONEVolume
10Issue
7Start page
e0130657
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Despite being a charismatic and well-known species, the social system of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus—the only extant member of the family Phascolarctidae) is poorly known and much of the koala’s sociality and mating behaviors remain un-quantified. We evaluated these using proximity logging-GPS enabled tracking collars on wild koalas and discuss their implications for the mating system of this species. The frequency and duration of male-female encounters increased during the breeding season, with male-male encounters quite uncommon, suggesting little direct mating competition. By comparison, female-female interactions were very common across both seasons. Body mass of males was not correlated with their interactions with females during the breeding season, although male size is associated with a variety of acoustic parameters indicating individuality. We hypothesise that vocal advertising reduces the likelihood of male-male encounters in the breeding season while increasing the rate of male-female encounters. We suggest that male mating-season bellows function to reduce physical confrontations with other males allowing them to space themselves apart, while, at the same time, attracting females. We conclude that indirect male-male competition, female mate choice, and possibly female competition, mediate sexual selection in koalas.Type
ArticleRights
Copyright: © 2015 Ellis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1371/journal.pone.0130657
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Copyright: © 2015 Ellis et al. This is an open access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author and source are
credited.