First, I have to say that from start to finish, working with Ecology and Evolution was wonderful—perhaps my best publishing experience (5 stars). This project also included many authors and was truly a team effort (as indicated by 3 co-first authors), which made it a lot of fun.
When sexual signals evolve, most attention is paid to impacts on intended receivers (potential mates) rather than fitness consequences for eavesdroppers. We asked how the deadly acoustically hunting parasitoid fly, Ormia ochracea, is responding to novel changes in cricket host signals (songs). Flies strongly preferred ancestral song over novel songs in both the field and the lab, but we caught more flies to novel songs in the field than reported in previous work, indicating that flies may be exerting some selective pressure. When played at realistic amplitudes, we found no preferences–flies responded equally to novel songs that varied in frequency, broadbandedness, and temporal measures. However, our lab experiment revealed the first evidence of preference for song amplitude–they like louder novel songs. Check out the paper to learn more!
Broder Lab 