Environmental context is a crucial factor that influences sexual communication systems. Particularly in ectotherms, which cannot metabolically regulate their body temperature, temperature has an outsized effect on these intraspecific interactions. Using the desert-dwelling jumping spider Habronattus clypeatus, we assessed how temperature impacts various parts of the male signal and female mate choice for the signal. These spiders have multimodal, temporally structured courtship displays that begin with visual-only ‘sidling’ displays and proceed to multimodal visual and vibratory displays. To examine temperature effects, we performed sequential choice mating experiments (N = 45 trials) at two temperature treatments: hot (∼50 °C) and room temperature (∼25 °C). We found first that variation in the different stages of courtship segregated onto different principal components. The only aspect of male courtship that females expressed preference for was sidling courtship, but only at the higher temperature. Females also preferred to mate with heavier males at all temperatures. Specifically, females preferred to mate with males that performed shorter sidling displays. This is reflected by shorter copulation times in the warm treatment as well. We also found that temperature impacted only vibratory courtship and not sidling courtship. Our results highlight the importance of understanding environmental context in studies of animal communication. We also stress how a holistic, rather than reductive, approach to complex communication systems is vital in order to understand how selection acts upon them.

中文翻译：

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栖息在沙漠中的跳蛛温度、性信号和配偶选择之间的复杂相互作用

环境背景是影响性交流系统的关键因素。特别是在不能代谢调节体温的变温动物中，温度对这些种内相互作用有很大的影响。我们使用居住在沙漠中的跳蛛 Habronattus clypeatus，评估​​了温度如何影响雄性信号的各个部分和信号的雌性配偶选择。这些蜘蛛具有多模式、时间结构的求偶显示，从仅视觉“侧身”显示开始，然后进行多模式视觉和振动显示。为了检查温度影响，我们在两种温度处理下进行了顺序选择交配实验（N = 45 次试验）：热（~50 °C）和室温（~25 °C）。我们首先发现，求爱不同阶段的差异被划分为不同的主要成分。女性表达偏好的男性求爱的唯一方面是侧身求爱，但仅限于更高的温度。在所有温度下，雌性也更喜欢与较重的雄性交配。具体来说，雌性更喜欢与表现较短的雄性交配。这也反映在温暖处理中更短的交配时间。我们还发现温度只影响振动求爱，而不影响偷懒求爱。我们的结果强调了在动物交流研究中了解环境背景的重要性。我们还强调对复杂通信系统采取整体而非简化的方法对于理解选择如何作用于它们至关重要。