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Individual Variation in Alkaloid Content of Poison Frogs of Madagascar (Mantella; Mantellidae)

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Abstract

Brightly colored Malagasy poison frogs, Mantella spp., sequester lipophilic, basic alkaloids from arthropod prey for their own chemical defense. Consequently, microsympatric prey diversity is expected to influence alkaloid diversity observed in poison frogs. Twenty-two specimens of three Mantella species from four localities in moist forests of southeastern Madagascar were analyzed individually via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, revealing that they contain over 80 known alkaloids. Frogs within a locality possessed significantly similar alkaloid content and diversity, while frogs from areas that varied in disturbance, elevation, and/or species showed greater differences. Based on dietary data, the larger frog species Mantella baroni consumed more and larger prey, and showed greater diversity in skin alkaloids than significantly smaller Mantella bernhardi. Additionally, frogs from the most pristine locality had the greatest number of alkaloids, whereas individuals from the most disturbed localities had the least. In a comparison of frog alkaloid profiles over a 10- to 14-yr period, alkaloid turnover, and thus presumably alkaloid-source arthropod turnover, was high in a disturbed locality and low in the pristine primary forest locality. We demonstrate that the nonlethal transcutaneous amphibian stimulator (TAS) is effective for harvesting alkaloids from poison frogs; future studies using this device could obtain larger sample sizes without harming local frog populations.

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Abbreviations

TAS:

transcutaneous amphibian stimulator

Ampa:

Ampasimpotsy

Vato:

Vatoharanana

Saha:

Sahavondrona

Vohi:

Vohiparara

AMNH:

American Museum of Natural History

UADAB:

University of Antananarivo Department of Animal Biology

RA:

relative abundance in EI mode

SVL:

snout–vent length

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Acknowledgments

We thank Elizabeth E., Sandra P., and William S. Clark, John W. Daly, Jerrold Meinwald, Helian Ratsirarson, Aimee Razafiarimalala, and Justin Solo for their help, anonymous reviewers for critical readings of this manuscript, Christopher J. Raxworthy for discussions, Julián Faivovich for frog dissection training, and Florio Arguillas and Françoise Vermeylen for statistical consulting at Cornell. This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grants DEB-9984496 (to C.J. Raxworthy) for VC Clark’s 2003 fieldwork, DEB-0344731 (to B.L.F. and P.S. Ward) for arthropod processing, and CHE-0216226 to Prof. Koji Nakanishi for GC-TOF-MS acquisition and partial support of L.A. The UADAB, Association Nationale pour la Gestion des Aires Protégées, Direction Generale des Eaux et Forêts, Madagascar Institute pour la Conservation des Ecosystèmes Tropicaux, and California Academy of Sciences team in Antananarivo facilitated activities in Madagascar, and Columbia University (including Edward Bass for Biosphere 2) and the American Museum of Natural History provided research support in the United States.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Valerie C. Clark

  2. Department of Animal Biology, University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, 101, Madagascar

    Valérie Rakotomalala & Olga Ramilijaona

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Arizona, Tuczon, AZ, 85721, USA

    Leif Abrell

  4. Department of Entomology, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, 94103, USA

    Brian L. Fisher

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  1. Valerie C. Clark
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  2. Valérie Rakotomalala
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Correspondence to Valerie C. Clark.

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Clark, V.C., Rakotomalala, V., Ramilijaona, O. et al. Individual Variation in Alkaloid Content of Poison Frogs of Madagascar (Mantella; Mantellidae). J Chem Ecol 32, 2219–2233 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9144-6

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