Conspecific visual cues: the relative importance of interference and exploitation competition among tadpoles of <i>Rana kukunoris</i>

Yu, Tong Lei; Lambert, Max R.

doi:10.1080/03949370.2015.1092477

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…In both of our current experiments, it seems likely that focal tadpoles were responding to visual and/or tactile cues of carnivores. Tadpoles in other species respond to these cues in response to both predators and conspecifics [40][41][42][43][44]. While tadpoles [41], including Spea tadpoles [29,39,45,46], also respond to chemical cues, It is unlikely that such cues mediated the responses we found in our experiments since both treatments were exposed to potential chemical cues.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Factor in fear? Interference competition in polymorphic spadefoot toad tadpoles and its potential role in disruptive selection

Strugariu¹,

Martin²

2023

Preprint

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Disruptive selection arises when extreme phenotypes have a fitness advantage compared to more intermediate phenotypes. Theory and evidence suggest that intraspecific resource competition is a key driver of disruptive selection. However, while competition can be indirect (exploitative) or direct (interference), the role of interference competition in disruptive selection has not been tested, and most models of disruptive selection assume exploitative competition. We experimentally investigated whether the type of competition affects the outcome of competitive interactions using a system where disruptive selection is common: Mexican spadefoot toads (Spea multiplicata). Spea tadpoles develop into alternative resource-use phenotypes: carnivores, which consume fairy shrimp and other tadpoles, and omnivores, which feed on algae and detritus. Tadpoles intermediate in phenotype have low fitness when competition is intense, as they are outcompeted by the specialized tadpoles. Our experiments revealed that the presence of carnivores significantly decreased foraging behavior in intermediate tadpoles, and that intermediate tadpoles had significantly lower growth rates in interference competition treatments with carnivores but not with omnivores. Interference competition may therefore be important in driving disruptive selection. As carnivore tadpoles are also cannibalistic, the ‘fear’ effect may have a greater impact on intermediate tadpoles than exploitative competition alone, similarly to non-consumptive effects in predator-prey or intraguild relationships.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Factor in fear? Interference competition in polymorphic spadefoot toad tadpoles and its potential role in disruptive selection

Strugariu¹,

Martin²

2023

Preprint

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“…A major question about visual cues is raised by tadpole responses to the sight of conspecifics, which has been reported to affect aggregation [ 21 ], growth and the duration of the larval period [ 43 ], and activity levels [ 44 ]. This capability, which can be expected to differ between social and solitary species [ 21 ], may imply that the visual perception of conspecifics, as either partners or potential competitors, is a selective pressure stronger than predation threat, which actually may materialize through a plethora of carnivorous species differing in morphology and behaviour, depending on local environmental conditions and communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodal Cues Do Not Improve Predator Recognition in Green Toad Tadpoles

Gazzola

Guadin

Balestrieri

et al. 2022

Animals

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The anti-predator behaviour of green toad (Bufotes balearicus) tadpoles was investigated by exposing them to only the visual or chemical cues, or a combination of both, of a native predator, southern hawker Aeshna cyanea. We collected green toad egg strings in the field and tadpoles did not receive any predatory stimulus before the onset of the experiment. To manipulate chemical and visual cues independently, dragonfly larvae were caged inside a transparent plastic container, while chemical cues (odour of tadpole-fed dragonfly larvae) were injected into the surrounding arena. An empty container and water were used, respectively, as controls. The behaviour of individually tested tadpoles was videorecorded for 40 min, of which 20 were before their exposure to stimuli. Five second-distance frames were compared to assess both tadpole activity and position within the arena with respect to the visual stimulus. The tadpole level of activity strongly decreased after exposure to either chemical cues alone or in combination with visual cues, while visual cues alone apparently did not elicit any defensive response. The position of tadpoles inside the arena was not affected by visual cues, suggesting that green toad tadpoles mainly rely on olfactory cues to assess the level of predation risk.

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“…Within the conspecific treatment, tadpoles from the two E. pustulosus nests were assigned as the focal or non-focal tadpole. To avoid potential weaker competitive dynamics among related individuals ( Pakkasmaa and Aikio 2003 ; Yu and Lambert 2017 ), we obtained the non-focal tadpole in the conspecific treatment from the other nest to ensure that competitors were not siblings. To distinguish focal tadpoles in the conspecific treatment, we removed 1/3 of the non-focal tadpole’s tail under MS-222 anesthesia ( Segev et al 2015 ; Clarke et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of heterospecific and conspecific competition on inter-individual differences in tungara frog tadpole (Engystomops pustulosus) behavior

Beyts

Cella²,

Colegrave

et al. 2023

Behavioral Ecology

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Repeated social interactions with conspecifics and/or heterospecifics during early development may drive the differentiation of behavior among individuals. Competition is a major form of social interaction and its impacts can depend on whether interactions occur between conspecifics or heterospecifics and the directionality of a response could be specific to the ecological context that they are measured in. To test this, we reared tungara frog tadpoles (Engystomops pustulosus) either in isolation, with a conspecific tadpole or with an aggressive heterospecific tadpole, the whistling frog tadpole (Leptodactylus fuscus). In each treatment, we measured the body size and distance focal E. pustulosus tadpoles swam in familiar, novel and predator risk contexts six times during development. We used univariate and multivariate hierarchical mixed effect models to investigate the effect of treatment on mean behavior, variance among and within individuals, behavioral repeatability and covariance among individuals in their behavior between contexts. There was a strong effect of competition on behavior, with different population and individual level responses across social treatments. Within a familiar context, the variance in the distance swam within individuals decreased under conspecific competition but heterospecific competition caused more variance in the average distance swam among individuals. Behavioral responses were also context specific as conspecific competition caused an increase in the distance swam within individuals in novel and predator risk contexts. The results highlight that the impact of competition on among and within individual variance in behavior is dependent on both competitor species identity and context.

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Conspecific visual cues: the relative importance of interference and exploitation competition among tadpoles of Rana kukunoris

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

Factor in fear? Interference competition in polymorphic spadefoot toad tadpoles and its potential role in disruptive selection

Factor in fear? Interference competition in polymorphic spadefoot toad tadpoles and its potential role in disruptive selection

Multimodal Cues Do Not Improve Predator Recognition in Green Toad Tadpoles

The effect of heterospecific and conspecific competition on inter-individual differences in tungara frog tadpole (Engystomops pustulosus) behavior

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