SONG OF THE
POND, insights into the music of the amphbian orchestra
For nearly
40 years, biologist Carl Gerhardt and his fellow researchers have eavesdropped
on the amorous amphibians with the goal of understanding the surprisingly
complicated science of frog communication. In the process they’ve gained
important new insights into how frogs — and by implication many other species —
may be evolving much more rapidly than scientists had ever imagined.
Gerhardt’s
most recent work involves the love life of tree frogs: specifically, how female
tree frogs respond to males’ mating calls. Female frogs, he’s found, are
genetically hard-wired to target mating calls from males of their own species.