DOI: 10.5061/dryad.b5mkkwhqx
title: Rivers and roads, silence and songs: female crickets respond similarly to conspecific male song in natural and anthropogenic soundscapes

description: Many studies have demonstrated that anthropogenic noise affects animals’
 auditory perception of salient stimuli. Few have tested whether these
 effects are different from those experienced in nature. We tested the
 ability of female field crickets, Teleogryllus oceanicus, to locate a
 speaker playing conspecific male song in four background acoustic
 conditions: silence, road noise, river noise, and heterospecific song. We
 recorded how successful crickets were in reaching the correct speaker in
 each condition, as well as varying other metrics for the ones that were
 successful, such as speed, path length and latency to start. Crickets
 paused more frequently during river noise and heterospecific song
 treatments compared to silence or road noise. We also recorded auditory
 interneuron (AN2) activity under the first three background conditions to
 construct and compare condition-specific audiograms and AN2 response to
 conspecific song. We examined the the thresholds of response for AN2 at
 difference frequencies and how responsive it was to male under said noise
 conditions. AN2 thresholds for 6 kHz sounds (the frequency close to male
 song frequency) were highest in river noise, while heterospecific song
 increased baseline AN2 activity and reduced AN2 activity to conspecific
 song onset. Together, our results suggest road noise is not a
 qualitatively greater disturbance than is river noise.
description: # Rivers and roads, silence and songs: female crickets respond similarly
 to conspecific male song in natural and anthropogenic soundscapes Dataset
 DOI: [10.5061/dryad.b5mkkwhqx](10.5061/dryad.b5mkkwhqx) ## Description of
 the data and file structure *Teleogryllus oceanicus* crickets were placed
 in the center of a circular arena surrounded by speakers. A single focal
 speaker located on the edge of the arena played the song of a male cricket
 while additional speakers located around the arena played one of four
 background noise conditions (silence, traffic noise, river noise, or the
 song of another cricket species). Crickets were recorded via a ceiling
 mounted security camera and scored on whether they reached the correct
 speaker playing male song. Those that did were then scored on their speed,
 latency to leave the central shelter, distance they travelled, and number
 of times they paused.  A subset of these crickets were then selected for
 neural trials. Crickets were pinned and their central connective was
 exposed and hooked with an electrode in order to record the firing of the
 AN2 interneuron. An audiogram was produced for each cricket under each of
 the four background noise conditions. Additionally we recorded the number
 of AN2 spikes in response to male song in each of the background noise
 conditions.  ### Files and variables #### File:
 T.oceanicus_river_vs_traffic.R **Description:** Code to analyze the
 behavioural data for the experiment. Contains code cleaning and organizing
 the behavioural data, as well as code for the linear models and plots. 
 #### File: 2022_T.oceanicus_experiment.csv **Description:** Behavioural
 data for the phonotaxis experiment ##### Variables * Cricket: Unique
 personal ID for each cricket * Rearing treatment: Not used for this study.
 Represents what environment the cricket was raised in. Quiet for silent
 environments and Urban for being raised in traffic noise. * Experiment
 treatment: The playback condition for this trial. Sl is for a silent
 playback file during the trial, Rd is for traffic noise playback during
 the trial, Rv is for river noise playback during the trial, and Tc is for
 playback of the song of the cricket *Teleogryllus commodus* during the
 trial. * Time to movement (s): Total time to leave the central shelter in
 the arena. n/a indicates the cricket failed to either begin the trial or
 did not leave the central shelter. * Time to finish (s): Total time to
 finish the trial. Not used in this study. n/a indicates the cricket failed
 to either begin the trial or did not leave the central shelter. * Signal
 location: location of the speaker playing the male song. n/a indicates the
 cricket failed to either begin the trial or did not leave the central
 shelter. * Exit: The location the cricket exited the arena from. n/a
 indicates the cricket failed to either begin the trial or did not leave
 the central shelter. * Success: whether the cricket successfully reached
 the correct speaker. Y for yes, N for no. n/a indicates the cricket failed
 to either begin the trial. * Weight (g): weight of the cricket after
 completing the trial. n/a indicates the cricket failed to either begin the
 trial. * Temperature (celsius): temperature in the room during the
 trial. n/a indicates the cricket failed to either begin the trial. * Hour:
 Time of the day in hours. n/a indicates the cricket failed to either begin
 the trial. * Day Minutes: Time of the day in minutes since midnight. n/a
 indicates the cricket failed to either begin the trial. * Length (mm):
 Total distance travelled during the trial. n/a indicates the cricket
 failed to either begin the trial, did not leave the central shelter, or
 the video recording failed.  * Proportion Paused: Total time spent paused
 during the trial. n/a indicates the cricket failed to either begin the
 trial, did not leave the central shelter, or the video recording failed. 
 * Number of Pauses: Total number of pauses during the trial. n/a indicates
 the cricket failed to either begin the trial, did not leave the central
 shelter, or the video recording failed. Notes: Additional notes or
 irregularities  * Date: Day the trial was done. n/a indicates the cricket
 failed to either begin the trial. #### File:
 T_oceanicus_video_coord_2022.zip **Description:** Second folder containing
 the coordinates of the crickets movement extracted from the video files
 using Ctrax. This sequence of numbers denotes the fly's center.x,
 center.y, size.width, size.height, angle, and identity. Negative numbers
 (other than for the angle) suggest a tracking error. #### File:
 T_oceanicus_video_coord_2022_exp_1.zip **Description:** First folder
 containing the coordinates of the crickets movement extracted from the
 video files using Ctrax. This sequence of numbers denotes the fly's
 center.x, center.y, size.width, size.height, angle, and identity. Negative
 numbers (other than for the angle) suggest a tracking error. #### File:
 TO_Audiograms_20230410.csv **Description:** File containing the data for
 the audiograms for the AN2 interneuron ##### Variables *
 Developmental.Treatment: Rearing condition for the cricket. Only Quiet or
 Q crickets were used in this study.  * Cricket.ID: ID of the cricket
 tested. The same as the ones in 2022_T.oceanicus_experiment.csv. *
 Audiogram.treatment: Playback treatment during the audiogram *
 Frequency.kHz: Frequency pulse being presented * Interneuron: Interneuron
 being recorded. Always AN2 in this study * Threshold.dB.SPL: Amplitude at
 which the AN2 interneuron first starts responding * Time.in.file.mss.ms:
 Time in the file at which the threshold is reached.  *
 Spikes.at.threshold: Number of AN2 spikes that occur at threshold *
 Latency.ms: Delay between the tone and the first AN2 spikes at threshold. 
 #### File: TO_song_data_20230410.csv **Description:** File containing the
 data for the data for the number of AN2 spikes in response to male song
 ##### Variables * Cricket: ID of cricket. Same as files above.  *
 Treatment: Playback treatment during trial * Time.of.count: Point of
 recording in file, in reference to when the male song began during the
 trial.  * AN2.spikes: Number of spikes #### File: Interspike_durations.zip
 **Description:** File containing csv files for inter-spike duration. Each
 csv file lists the gaps between each AN2 spike for each cricket during
 each song trial (i.e. TO_song_data_20230410.csv). Sequence fo numbers
 denotes the start of the spike, the end of the spike, and the interval
 between the peak of this spike and the previous spike.  #### File:
 T.oceanicus_river_vs_traffic_JEB.R **Description:** Code to analyze the
 behavioural data for the experiment. Contains code cleaning and organizing
 the behavioural data, as well as code for the linear models, other
 statistics and plots.  #### File: TO_spike_analysis_River_comparison.R
 **Description:** Code to analyze the neural data and analyze the AN2 spike
 patterns. Contains code cleaning and organizing the AN2 data, as well as
 code for the linear models, other statistics and plots. #### File:
 TO_AN1_amplitude_measurements_Erik_2025.R **Description:** Code to
 calculate the relative AN1 responses via RMS using the audio files with
 AN2 spikes removed.  #### File: TO_AN1_amplitude_analysis_2025.R
 **Description: **Code to analyze the AN1 measurements generated
 in TO_AN1_amplitude_measurements_Erik_2025.R. Contains code for
 statistical tests and generating figures.