Meeting Abstract
Signals are often directional, meaning that they are best perceived from certain angles. Similarly, the sensory systems of receivers may often exhibit directionality, leading to spatial biases in their sensitivity to signals around them. This implies that alignment between signals and sensors may often be critical for effective communication. However, we know little in any system about how signal-sensor alignment is established and controlled throughout a signaling interaction. The dynamic courtship dances of the jumping spider Habronattus pyrrithrix are an excellent system for investigating signal-sensor alignment. During courtship, males produce a color- and pattern-rich, forward-facing display. Females view this display with multiple pairs of eyes, which are sensitive to different types of visual stimuli. Only the forward-facing principal eyes can perceive color and acute detail. Males and/or females may thus be under pressure to align the male display with the field-of-view of female principal eyes. We measured relative positions of both actors throughout courtship to evaluate how consistently male displays are aligned with the principal eye field of view, and the relative role of each sex in maintaining this alignment. With live females, male displays were consistently aligned with female principle eyes. However, when female position was fixed, this alignment was reduced. In addition, when females were turned to face away, males rarely repositioned themselves to re-align their display. These results suggest that although both sexes contribute to effective alignment during courtship signaling, males rely heavily on female body reorientations to maintain signal-sensor alignment.
