JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 130.179.16.201 on Sat, 20 Jun 2015 20:59:09 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SHORTER COMMUNICATIONS SHORTER COMMUNICATIONSother undesirable stimulus such as contact from the investigator. Such an avoidance response would be consistent with a ranid frog's normal behavioral pattern of remaining immobile to avoid aversive stimuli such as predators (Gregory, 1979; Licht, 1986). Therefore, learning to inhibit the righting response through passive-avoidance might be an ecologically relevant response for ranid frogs. However, it is also possible that the frogs were simply habituating to being repeatedly overturned by remaining on their backs until they were righted by the investigator, thus perceiving being overturned as a neutral stimulus. It might be ecologically relevant for ranids to have behavioral mechanisms that allow them to rapidly habituate to neutral stimuli. Such responses would allow them to save energy, which would be a valuable adaptation given the high fatigue rate of this taxa as compared to bufonids (Bennet and Licht, 1974; Carey, 1979). Regardless of whether this inhibition of the righting response is derived from a passive-avoidance response or through simple habituation, it represents an example of learned behavior in postlarval ranid frogs. There are few studies that clearly demonstrate learning in postlarval ranids (see review, Suboski, 1992). Therefore, our experiments add to the knowledge concerning patterns and the capacity for learned behavior in these species. Furthermore, this study provides a useful assessment of learning abilities in ranids since our methods for producing the inhibitory response were easy to perform and did not require application of painful stimuli to the animals. Such an assay might be used to examine learning and retention of learned responses in a variety of anuran species. Anurans are capable of retaining this learned response (Harvey et al., 1976), and some species display better learning abilities than others when tested for righting response inhibition (Harvey et al., 1981). Our procedures might also be used to rapidly assess the learning abilities of ranid frogs which have been exposed to neurotoxins. We are particularly interested in using this procedure to determine the effects of lead exposure on learning in postlarval ranids. Previous research has shown that exposure to lead has profound effects on the learning abilities of larval ranids (Strickler-Shaw and Taylor, 1990Taylor, , 1991), but no studies thus far have examined the subsequent effects of lead exposure in the postlarval stages. Acknowledgments.-We thank D. Groggel for assistance with the statistical analyses, and S. Stric...
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