Maternal Provisioning of Alkaloid Defenses are Present in Obligate but not Facultative Egg Feeding Dendrobatids

Villanueva, Emily D; Brooks, Olivia L.; Bolton, Sarah Knowles; Savastano, Nina; Schulte, Lisa M.; Saporito, Ralph A.

doi:10.1007/s10886-022-01394-y

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Egg feeding is a parental behavior that has been widely studied in dendrobatid frogs ( Brooks et al 2023 , Schulte 2013 , Stynoski 2009 , Villanueva et al 2022 ) but also has independently evolved in other anuran families ( Schulte et al 2020 ). Strategic egg feeding probably evolved from a scenario in which females repeatedly deposited eggs in the same locations across consecutive mating events, and older siblings exploited and consumed deposited eggs.…”

Section: Functions Of Parental Care In Amphibiansmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Remarkably, these eggs provide not only food but also chemical defenses (i.e., alkaloids) ( Brooks et al 2023 , Stynoski et al 2014b ), which have been shown to be sequestered by tadpoles as soon as granular glands develop ( Stynoski & O’Connell 2017 ) and to protect them from multiple types of predators ( Stynoski et al 2014a ). Such defense provisioning occurs, however, only in obligate egg feeders and not in facultative ones ( Villanueva et al 2022 ; see also Section 4.3 ). All of these studies indicate that, for species with parental care, it is particularly vital to be either highly camouflaged or, alternatively, to communicate strong toxicity via conspicuous warning colors to potential predators.…”

Section: Mechanisms and Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What Amphibians Can Teach Us About the Evolution of Parental Care

Ringler

Rojas

Stynoski

et al. 2023

Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst.

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Parenting is considered a key evolutionary innovation that contributed to the diversification and expansion of vertebrates. However, we know little about how such diversity evolved. Amphibians are an ideal group in which to identify the ecological factors that have facilitated or constrained the evolution of different forms of parental care. Among, but also within, the three amphibian orders—Anura, Caudata, and Gymnophiona—there is a high level of variation in habitat use, fertilization mode, mating systems, and parental sex roles. Recent work using broad phylogenetic, experimental, and physiological approaches has helped to uncover the factors that have selected for the evolution of care and transitions between different forms of parenting. Here, we highlight the exceptional diversity of amphibian parental care, emphasize the unique opportunities this group offers for addressing key questions about the evolution of parenting, and give insights into promising novel directions of research. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, Volume 54 is November 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Section: Functions Of Parental Care In Amphibiansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mechanisms and Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Amphibians Can Teach Us About the Evolution of Parental Care

Ringler

Rojas

Stynoski

et al. 2023

Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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The molecular basis and evolution of toxin resistance in poison frogs

Coleman,

Cannatella

2023

Evol Ecol

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Effects of parental care on skin microbial community composition in poison frogs

Fischer,

Xue,

Costello

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Parent-offspring interactions constitute the first contact of many newborns with their environment, priming community assembly of microbes through priority effects. Early exposure to microbes can have lasting influences on the assembly and functionality of the host’s microbiota, leaving a life-long imprint on host health and disease. Studies of the role played by parental care in microbial acquisition have primarily focused on humans and hosts with agricultural relevance. Anuran vertebrates offer the opportunity to examine microbial community composition across life stages as a function of parental investment. In this study, we investigate vertical transmission of microbiota during parental care in a poison frog (FamilyDendrobatidae), where fathers transport their offspring piggyback-style from terrestrial clutches to aquatic nurseries. We found that substantial bacterial colonization of the embryo begins after hatching from the vitelline envelope, emphasizing its potential role as microbial barrier during early development. Using a laboratory cross-foster experiment, we demonstrated that poison frogs performing tadpole transport serve as a source of skin microbes for tadpoles on their back. To study how transport impacts the microbial skin communities of tadpoles in an ecologically relevant setting, we sampled frogs and tadpoles of sympatric species that do or do not exhibit tadpole transport in their natural habitat. We found more diverse microbial communities associated with tadpoles of transporting species compared to a non-transporting frog. However, we detected no difference in the degree of similarity between adult and tadpole skin microbiotas, based on whether the frog species exhibits transporting behavior or not. Using a field experiment, we confirmed that tadpole transport can result in the persistent colonization of tadpoles by isolated microbial taxa associated with the caregiver’s skin, albeit often at low abundance. This is the first study to describe vertical transmission of skin microbes in anuran amphibians, showing that offspring transport may serve as a mechanism for transmission of parental skin microbes. Overall, these findings provide a foundation for further research on how vertical transmission in this order impacts host-associated microbiota and physiology.

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Maternal Provisioning of Alkaloid Defenses are Present in Obligate but not Facultative Egg Feeding Dendrobatids

Cited by 3 publications

References 72 publications

What Amphibians Can Teach Us About the Evolution of Parental Care

What Amphibians Can Teach Us About the Evolution of Parental Care

The molecular basis and evolution of toxin resistance in poison frogs

Effects of parental care on skin microbial community composition in poison frogs

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