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Experimental evidence in a poison frog model suggests that tadpole transport on the dorsum may affects warning signal effectiveness in poison frogs

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Abstract

Aposematism is an anti-predator strategy where predators learn to associate the warning signal on prey with an unpleasant experience, and consequently, avoid attacking similar prey in the future. Conspicuous coloration in poison frogs (Dendrobatidae) is considered a warning signal. During parental care, parents transport their tadpoles on the dorsum, which could alter the detectability and recognition of such warning coloration by visually oriented predators. We tested this hypothesis using domestic chicks trained to avoid and discriminate between printed frog models with and without conspicuous-warning coloration. We tested whether the chicks recognized the warning coloration on printed frog models that varied in the quantity of tadpoles on the dorsum. Chicks first attacked frog models without warning coloration, whether they had tadpoles on the dorsum or not. In contrast, frog models with warning coloration were attacked last by chicks. Moreover, the frog models with warning coloration and without tadpoles experienced a lower risk of attack by chicks than similar frog models with tadpoles. However, aposematic frog models maintained the warning function of conspicuous coloration if it was located on parts of the parent's body that are not covered by the tadpoles when transported. Our results suggest that tadpoles on the dorsum of parents might compromise the effectiveness of the warning signal display in poison frogs increasing the risk of attack by visually oriented predators.

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Availability of data and material

Data supporting the findings reported in this study are available at the FigShare data repository https://figshare.com/s/d28c09abc114b61c18a9

Code availability

Script used in this study is available at the FigShare data repository https://figshare.com/s/0855586b4a985625214e

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Emmanuel Valencia, Edward Toro, Yamileth Gómez, Valentina Toro, Gustavo Lupaco and Rubiel Londoño, for their valuable help during experiments in the middle of a pandemic. To Finca Agroecológica "El Recuerdo" for hosting chicks. Also, thanks to Bibiana Rojas, Víctor Hugo García-Merchán, Marco Gonzalez-Santoro, Roberto Márquez, and members of the research group EECO for invaluable comments on previous versions of this manuscript. Two anonymous reviewers and the editor help to greatly improve previous versions of this manuscript with their suggestions. To Genrietta Yagudayeva and María Isabel Mejía for improving the English of the manuscript. Finally, thanks to Universidad del Quindío (Colombia) for logistical support and research permits.

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The authors received no specific funding for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigación en Evolución, Ecología y Conservación (EECO), Programa de Biología, Universidad del Quindío, Carrera 15 Calle 12 Norte, Armenia, Quindío, Colombia

    María Paula Toro-Gómez, Santiago Casas-Cardona & Fernando Vargas-Salinas

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, St. John’s University, Jamaica-Queens, NY, USA

    Juan D. Carvajal-Castro

Authors
  1. María Paula Toro-Gómez
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  2. Juan D. Carvajal-Castro
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  3. Santiago Casas-Cardona
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  4. Fernando Vargas-Salinas
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. J.D.C.C., S.C.C, and F.V.S developed the research concept. Experiments, data collection and analysis were performed by M.P.T.G. All authors planned the research, interpreted the data, read, edited, and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to María Paula Toro-Gómez.

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Ethical Statement

The authors followed ethical procedures of the Guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioral research and teaching by the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour during all the observations and experiments performed in this study. Additionally, this study was made under research permit # 01789 (October 11, 2018) of the government of Colombia.

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Supplementary Information

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Supplementary file1 (DOCX 14 KB)

10682_2022_10219_MOESM2_ESM.jpg

Survival curves used to test the proportional hazard assumption for the survival analysis performed in phase III. Note that the curves do not cross each other and are constant over time. Supplementary file2 (JPG 303 KB)

10682_2022_10219_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Results of the Nemenyi post hoc analysis. P values > 0.05 in pairwise comparison indicate differences in chick attack order between frog model types. Supplementary file3 (TIF 9835 KB)

Experimental arena used for Phases I, II, and III (see methodology in the text for details). Supplementary file4 (MOV 6642 KB)

Chick performance during Phases I, II, and III (see methodology in the text for details). Supplementary file5 (MOV 130886 KB)

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Toro-Gómez, M.P., Carvajal-Castro, J.D., Casas-Cardona, S. et al. Experimental evidence in a poison frog model suggests that tadpole transport on the dorsum may affects warning signal effectiveness in poison frogs. Evol Ecol 37, 267–289 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-022-10219-z

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