Complex choice environments shelter unattractive signallers from sexual selection

For many animals, options abound when choosing a mate in socially complex environments like a breeding chorus or lek. In such environments, receivers often choose their mate based on individual differences in signal repetition rate. However, signallers also differ in the regularity with which they produce repeated signals. Irregularity in signalling introduces uncertainty in decision-making by masking the among-individual variation in signalling rate that is a target of mate choice. At present, we know little about how the complexity of the choice environment affects selection on rate and regularity, two signalling behaviours that receivers can only compare after sampling series of signals produced by multiple signallers. In this study of female grey treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis), we measured multivariate sexual selection on the rate and regularity of male calling behaviour using two-, four- and eight-choice tests. Receivers overwhelmingly chose faster, more regular calling rates in two-choice tests, but did so markedly less often when they chose among four or eight stimuli. Sexual selection imposed by female choice became markedly weaker and differently shaped as the complexity of the social environment increased, suggesting noise and choice overload effects may allow relatively unattractive males to mate.