Male frogs give calls that attract female frogs to approach and mate.Researchers examined mating calls of closely related tree frogs in South America.If reinforcement of prezygotic isolation is occurring,what would you expect if you compare the calls of the two species in zones of sympatry versus zones of allopatry?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

If reinforcement of prezygotic isolation is occurring, we would expect the two closely related tree frog species to evolve differences in their mating calls in areas of sympatry (where the two species overlap and potentially mate) compared to areas of allopatry (where the two species are geographically separated and do not mate). This is because if interbreeding occurs between the two species in sympatry, there may be reduced fitness of hybrid offspring due to genetic incompatibility between the two species. Therefore, natural selection would favor individuals with mating calls that differ from those of the other species to reduce the likelihood of interbreeding. Thus, we would expect the calls of the two species to be more different in areas of sympatry compared to allopatry.

Male Frogs Give Calls That Attract Female Frogs to Approach