Nature:雄性果蠅會改變求偶聲音

很多動物的雄性都會發出有一定規律的求偶聲音，來提高它們與雌性的繁殖成功率，所以叫聲結構的變化一直被看做是有害的「噪音」。

雄性果蠅也使用求偶聲音（是由翅膀振動產生的），Mala Murthy及同事對這些信號的模式（規律）進行了研究。他們發現，雄性會根據視覺輸入和自身運動感覺輸入信號來調整它們聲音的規律（由兩個交替的聲音模式組成）。雌性對這些努力很敏感，並會根據它們的行為狀態和聲音特點來改變其行走速度。

這些結果與認為求偶聲音有一個固定模式這樣一個被普遍接受的假設相矛盾，同時也將果蠅確立為用於研究複雜社會環境中快速決策方式的一個有希望的實驗模型。（生物谷Bioon.com）

生物谷推薦的英文摘要

Nature                doi:10.1038/nature13131

Dynamic sensory cues shape song structure in Drosophila

Philip Coen，  Jan Clemens，  Andrew J. Weinstein，  Diego A. Pacheco，  Yi Deng  & Mala Murthy

The generation of acoustic communication signals is widespread across the animal kingdom1， 2， and males of many species， including Drosophilidae， produce patterned courtship songs to increase their chance of success with a female. For some animals， song structure can vary considerably from one rendition to the next3； neural noise within pattern generating circuits is widely assumed to be the primary source of such variability， and statistical models that incorporate neural noise are successful at reproducing the full variation present in natural songs4. In direct contrast， here we demonstrate that much of the pattern variability in Drosophila courtship song can be explained by taking into account the dynamic sensory experience of the male. In particular， using a quantitative behavioural assay combined with computational modelling， we find that males use fast modulations in visual and self-motion signals to pattern their songs， a relationship that we show is evolutionarily conserved. Using neural circuit manipulations， we also identify the pathways involved in song patterning choices and show that females are sensitive to song features. Our data not only demonstrate that Drosophila song production is not a fixed action pattern5， 6， but establish Drosophila as a valuable new model for studies of rapid decision-making under both social and naturalistic conditions.