Maternal Brood Care by Dendrobates pumilio: A Frog That Feeds Its Young

Brust, Douglas G.

doi:10.2307/1564914

Cited by 111 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the strawberry poison frog (Oophaga pumilio), fathers guard fertilized eggs in leaf litter for 7-10 days until mothers return to transport tadpoles to individual phytotelmata (Weygoldt 1980). Then, for approximately six weeks, mothers visit phytotelmata every 1-5 days and supply tadpoles with unfertilized (nutritive) eggs as food (Brust 1993, Stynoski 2009). Because O. pumilio tadpoles are known to eat only maternal eggs as opposed to alkaloid-containing arthropods (Daly et al 1987, Brust 1993, Stynoski 2009), it has been assumed that tadpoles do not contain any alkaloid-based chemical defenses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Then, for approximately six weeks, mothers visit phytotelmata every 1-5 days and supply tadpoles with unfertilized (nutritive) eggs as food (Brust 1993, Stynoski 2009). Because O. pumilio tadpoles are known to eat only maternal eggs as opposed to alkaloid-containing arthropods (Daly et al 1987, Brust 1993, Stynoski 2009), it has been assumed that tadpoles do not contain any alkaloid-based chemical defenses. However, it is possible that females provision eggs with alkaloids and thus provide developing tadpoles with chemical defenses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evidence of maternal provisioning of alkaloid‐based chemical defenses in the strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumilio

Stynoski

Torres-Mendoza

Sasa

et al. 2014

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Many organisms use chemical defenses to reduce predation risk. Aposematic dendrobatid frogs sequester alkaloid-based chemical defenses from a diet of arthropods, but research on these defenses has been limited to adults. Herein, we investigate chemical defense across development in a dendrobatid frog, Oophaga pumilio. This species displays complex parental care: at hatching, mothers transport tadpoles to phytotelmata, and then return to supply them with an obligate diet of nutritive eggs for about six weeks. We collected eggs, tadpoles, juveniles, and adults of O. pumilio, and detected alkaloids in all life stages. The quantity and number of alkaloids increased with frog and tadpole size. We did not detect alkaloids in the earliest stage of tadpoles, but alkaloids were detected as trace quantities in nutritive eggs and as small quantities in ovarian eggs. Tadpoles hand-reared with eggs of an alkaloid-free heterospecific frog did not contain alkaloids. Alkaloids that are sequestered from terrestrial arthropods were detected in both adults and phytotelm-dwelling tadpoles that feed solely on nutritive eggs, suggesting that this frog may be the first animal known to actively provision post-hatch offspring with chemical defenses. Finally, we provide experimental evidence that maternally derived alkaloids deter predation of tadpoles by a predatory arthropod.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of maternal provisioning of alkaloid‐based chemical defenses in the strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumilio

Stynoski

Torres-Mendoza

Sasa

et al. 2014

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In turn, differences in pool size are associated with differences in the relative risks of predation, competition, cannibalism and starvation (Walters, 1975;Alford, 1999;Wells, 2007). Phytotelmata typically cannot sustain multiple tadpoles, and many species that use them have extremely competitive and predatory larvae (Brust, 1993;Pramuk & Hiler, 1999;Summers, 1999). Few species of frogs are able to use very small phytotelmata, probably because these pools contain insufficient nutrients to sustain tadpoles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergence in parental care, habitat selection and larval life history between two species of Peruvian poison frogs: an experimental analysis

Brown

Morales

Summers

2008

J of Evolutionary Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Changes in the nature of the ecological resources exploited by a species can lead to the evolution of novel suites of behaviours. We identified a case in which the transition from large pool use to the use of very small breeding pools in neotropical poison frogs (family Dendrobatidae) is associated with the evolution of a suite of behaviours, including biparental care (from uniparental care) and social monogamy (from promiscuity). We manipulated breeding pool size in order to demonstrate experimentally that breeding habitat selection strategy has evolved in concert with changes in parental care and mating system. We also manipulated intra‐ and interspecific larval interactions to demonstrate that larval adaptation to the use of very small pools for breeding affected the evolution of larval competition and cannibalism. Our results illustrate the intimate connection between breeding pool ecology, parental care and mating strategies in Peruvian poison frogs.

show abstract

“…Parental care of eggs and tadpoles in the different species can be provided either by the male, the female or by both parents. In some species females deposit unfertilized throphic eggs in phytotelmata containing their own offspring (Weygoldt 1987;Summers and McKeon 2004) that obligatorily feed on these eggs (Brust 1993;Pramuk and Hiler 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Offering offspring as food to cannibals: oviposition strategies of Amazonian poison frogs (Dendrobates ventrimaculatus)

Poelman

Dicke

2006

Evol Ecol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Species utilizing distinct resources for offspring production often show plasticity in reproductive strategies as a function of resource quality. For species using ephemeral pools, strategies are mainly shaped by a time constraint related to pool stability, resource availability and the colonizing community. We studied reproductive strategies in Amazonian poison frogs (Dendrobates ventrimaculatus) that are characterized by oviposition in distinct, small and resource-limited water bodies in leaf axils of plants and the transport of newly hatched tadpoles on the back of males to similar water bodies. Cannibalism of eggs by tadpoles was found to be the main cause of egg mortality. Typically, at the end of the rainy season new clutches of eggs were deposited in water bodies already containing a tadpole. Manipulation of the available number of water bodies showed that this observation did not result from resource limitation. We conclude that D. ventrimaculatus has a plastic reproductive strategy that includes provisioning its tadpoles with fertilized eggs as a function of desiccation risk of water bodies housing its offspring. Provisioning behavior is expected to increase developmental rate and, therefore, chances of metamorphosis for tadpoles that hatched towards the end of the rainy season. The plastic food provisioning strategy may be an important evolutionary link to bi-parental and female care with development of obligate unfertilized egg provisioning in the genus Dendrobates.

show abstract

Maternal Brood Care by Dendrobates pumilio: A Frog That Feeds Its Young

Cited by 111 publications

References 4 publications

Evidence of maternal provisioning of alkaloid‐based chemical defenses in the strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumilio

Evidence of maternal provisioning of alkaloid‐based chemical defenses in the strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumilio

Divergence in parental care, habitat selection and larval life history between two species of Peruvian poison frogs: an experimental analysis

Offering offspring as food to cannibals: oviposition strategies of Amazonian poison frogs (Dendrobates ventrimaculatus)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About