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A growth/mortality trade-off in larval salamanders and the coexistence of intraguild predators and prey

  • Community Ecology
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Abstract

Behavioral and morphological traits often influence a key trade-off between resource acquisition and vulnerability to predation, and understanding trait differences between species can provide critical insight into their interactions with other species and their distributions. Such an approach should enhance our understanding of the criteria for coexistence between species that can interact through both competition and predation (i.e. intraguild predators and prey). I conducted a common garden experiment that revealed strong differences between three guild members (larval salamanders Ambystoma laterale, A. maculatum, and A. tigrinum) in behavior, morphology, and growth in the presence and absence of a shared top predator (the larval dragonfly Anax longipes). All three species also reduced their activity and modified their tail fin depth, tail muscle length, and body length in response to non-lethal Anax. Species that act as intraguild predators were more active and could grow faster than their intraguild prey species, but they also suffered higher mortality in laboratory predation trials with Anax. I also used survey data from natural communities to compare the distribution of Ambystoma species between ponds differing in abiotic characteristics and predatory invertebrate assemblages. An intraguild prey species (A. maculatum) was found more reliably, occurred at higher densities, and was more likely to persist late into the larval period in ponds with more diverse invertebrate predator assemblages. Taken together, these results indicate that top predators such as Anax may play an important role in influencing intraguild interactions among Ambystoma and ultimately their local distribution patterns.

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Neil Kubica, Brian Allan, Melissa Gonzalez, Koren Spence, and Earl Werner for help during the pond survey, to Melissa Gonzalez for assistance with the predation trials, and to Rick Relyea for advice on the common garden experiment. I am grateful to the Michigan DNR for permission to sample in the Pinckney State Recreation Area. Comments from David Allan, Deborah Goldberg, Shannon McCauley, Josh Van Buskirk, Earl Werner, and two anonymous reviewers improved this manuscript. This research was supported by grants from the University of Michigan's Department of Biology and Museum of Zoology as well as a Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Animal care was within institutional guidelines.

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  1. Kerry L. Yurewicz

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

    Kerry L. Yurewicz

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Yurewicz, K.L. A growth/mortality trade-off in larval salamanders and the coexistence of intraguild predators and prey. Oecologia 138, 102–111 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1395-0

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