Ability of predatory native Australian fishes to learn to avoid toxic larvae of the introduced toad <i>Bufo marinus</i>

Crossland, Michael R.

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2001.tb00132.x

Cited by 54 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…In experiments most barramundi (Lates calcarifer) rapidly learned to avoid toad tadpoles, while sooty grunter (Hephaestus fuliginosus) showed wide intraspecific variation in behaviour: Some individuals learned to avoid tadpoles after only a few attacks while others continued to attack and reject tadpoles throughout the series of trials. Differences in fish learning ability, hunger levels and tadpole palatability may have contributed to the observed behavioural variation (Crossland 2001).…”

Section: Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Learning of Foraging Skills by Fish

Warburton

Hughes

2011

Fish Cognition and Behavior

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IntroductionInvestigations of the role of learning and memory in the foraging behaviour of fishes are at an exciting stage. Although less thoroughly studied than traditional laboratory favourites such as rats, pigeons or bees, fish species are no longer to be consigned to the 'poorly understood' category. It is now possible to place the capacities of fish in the context of learning and memory as a whole, as evidenced by previous reviews such as those by Hart (1986Hart ( , 1993, Hughes et al. (1992) and Kieffer & Colgan (1992). The present chapter attempts to integrate perspectives and findings from the fields of behavioural ecology and comparative psychology. This approach has been adopted for the following reasons:1. Comparative psychology has revealed broad regularities in the general principles of learning across invertebrate and vertebrate taxa (Logue 1988; Domjan 1998) and across spatial and temporal domains (Cheng & Spetch 2001). The general principles that apply to learning in bees, pigeons and rats are likely to apply to fishes also. Psychology can clarify the mechanisms that underlie observed behaviour, while behavioural ecology can evaluate the adaptive significance of behavioural capacities demonstrated by psychology. 2. In several cases, static first-generation models based on optimal foraging theory (OFT) that do not represent temporal changes in internal state fail to predict observed behaviour (Hart 1993). More recent studies using more flexible (e.g. dynamic-programming) models have been more successful because of their ability to represent changes in internal state (e.g. physiology and learning), interactions between intrinsic and extrinsic variables and continuous behavioural adjustment in response to these factors (Ehlinger 1989;Kieffer & Colgan 1991;Hart 1993;Dall et al. 1999). Although standard OFT models predict that animals should exhibit all-or-nothing choice, experiments usually reveal partial preferences. It is likely that future models will draw increasingly on psychological effects (e.g. discrimination, memory, cue competition, interference and attention) to explain such divergences from the predictions of simple or idealised models and to test models based on risk and information (Shettleworth 1988).

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Section: Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Learning of Foraging Skills by Fish

Warburton

Hughes

2011

Fish Cognition and Behavior

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“…As a result, knowledge of the compounds that may produce unpalatability is also lacking. Some larval toads in the family Bufonidae, however, are an exception to this, because bufotoxins and other toxic chemical skin secretions have been shown to cause unpalatability of these larvae (e.g., Crossland, 2001).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toad Tadpole Responses to Predator Risk: Ontogenetic Change between Constitutive and Inducible Defenses

Jara¹,

Perotti²

2009

Journal of Herpetology

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“…Some taxa display innate abilities to avoid toxic prey species with which they have coevolved (Smith 1975), as well as the ability to change feeding behavior when subjected to negative stimuli (Susswein et al 1986;Crossland 2001;Somaweera et al 2011). We demonstrate that eastern fence lizards do not avoid consuming fire ants following exposure and potential envenomation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irresistible ants: exposure to novel toxic prey increases consumption over multiple temporal scales

et al. 2016

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As species become increasingly exposed to novel challenges, it is critical to understand how evolutionary (i.e., generational) and plastic (i.e., within lifetime) responses work together to determine a species' fate or predict its distribution. The introduction of non-native species imposes novel pressures on the native species that they encounter. Understanding how native species exposed to toxic or distasteful invaders change their feeding behavior can provide insight into their ability to cope with these novel threats as well as broader questions about the evolution of this behavior. We demonstrated that native eastern fence lizards do not avoid consuming invasive fire ants following repeated exposure to this toxic prey. Rather fence lizards increased their consumption of these ants following exposure on three different temporal scales. Lizards ate more fire ants when they were exposed to this toxic prey over successive days. Lizards consumed more fire ants if they had been exposed to fire ants as juveniles 6 months earlier. Finally, lizards from populations exposed to fire ants over multiple generations consumed more fire ants than those from fire ant-free areas. These results suggest that the potentially lethal consumption of fire ants may carry benefits resulting in selection for this behavior, and learning that persists long after initial exposure. Future research on the response of native predators to venomous prey over multiple temporal scales will be valuable in determining the long-term effects of invasion by these novel threats.

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Ability of predatory native Australian fishes to learn to avoid toxic larvae of the introduced toad Bufo marinus

Cited by 54 publications

References 36 publications

Learning of Foraging Skills by Fish

Learning of Foraging Skills by Fish

Toad Tadpole Responses to Predator Risk: Ontogenetic Change between Constitutive and Inducible Defenses

Irresistible ants: exposure to novel toxic prey increases consumption over multiple temporal scales

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