Effects of a group-living experience on the antipredator responses of individual tadpoles

Guadin, Bianca; Gazzola, Andrea; Balestrieri, Alessandro; Scribano, Giovanni; Martı́n, José; Pellitteri‐Rosa, Daniele

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.08.009

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The behavioral responses of the two agile frog species were strikingly similar. Both species showed a relatively weak response to the kairomones of the red swamp crayfish, aligning with previous findings that suggest such kairomones only trigger effective defensive behaviors when combined with the alarm cues of conspecific tadpoles (Gazzola et al, 2018a(Gazzola et al, , b, 2021. In contrast, the strong response toward the pond slider, as high as that elicited by the cue of native dragonfly larvae, was unexpected, as four species belonging to as many anuran families (Ranidae, Pelobatidae, Bufonidae and Hylidae) had been previously reported to ignore its cues (Polo Cavia et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…For each testing session (trial), a grid of 12 tubs was arranged, enabling the simultaneous observation and recording of as many individuals (Scribano et al, 2020;Guadin et al, 2021). All trials were conducted indoors, and video recorded by a digital camera (Canon Legria, 1080-pixel resolution, 25 frames per second) suspended 1 m above the setup.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interspecific variation in the defensive responses of brown frogs to alien predators

Gazzola,

Balestrieri,

Martinelli

et al. 2024

Hydrobiologia

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Alien species impact native amphibians through various direct effects, including predation, and pose a significant threat to naïve prey populations. In this study, we exposed tadpoles of three brown frog species (Rana dalmatina, Rana latastei, and Rana temporaria) to the olfactory cues of two alien predators, the pond slider (Trachemys scripta) and red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), and compared their responses to those induced by the aquatic larvae of a widespread native predator, the Southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea). We recorded two tadpole defensive behaviors, the proportion of time they were active and the number of freezing events. Both agile frog species, R. dalmatina and R. latastei, showed moderate responses to red swamp crayfish kairomones and strong responses to both odonate larvae and pond sliders. In contrast, the common frog (R. temporaria) displayed a less intense response to crayfish with respect to odonate larvae, and a negligible response to pond sliders. Long-lasting coexistence with either European pond turtles or pond sliders may explain the strength of agile frogs’ response toward the alien species; while, the historical range of the white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) overlapped that of the common frog, enhancing the co-option of alien crayfish cues by this anuran species.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interspecific variation in the defensive responses of brown frogs to alien predators

Gazzola,

Balestrieri,

Martinelli

et al. 2024

Hydrobiologia

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“…As expected [ 21 , 30 ], green toad tadpoles responded to olfactory cues of native odonate predators by strongly decreasing their activity level, a behavioural response which has been recorded in several anuran larvae [ 31 ]. Oppositely, both the results of the visual treatment and the tadpole response to the presence of the predator, as assessed by analysing tadpole distance from the “predator” container and comparing the relative activity of predator and prey, suggest that tadpoles mainly rely on olfactory stimuli to estimate predation threat and exhibit a clear defensive response.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Multimodal Cues Do Not Improve Predator Recognition in Green Toad Tadpoles

Gazzola

Guadin

Balestrieri

et al. 2022

Animals

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The anti-predator behaviour of green toad (Bufotes balearicus) tadpoles was investigated by exposing them to only the visual or chemical cues, or a combination of both, of a native predator, southern hawker Aeshna cyanea. We collected green toad egg strings in the field and tadpoles did not receive any predatory stimulus before the onset of the experiment. To manipulate chemical and visual cues independently, dragonfly larvae were caged inside a transparent plastic container, while chemical cues (odour of tadpole-fed dragonfly larvae) were injected into the surrounding arena. An empty container and water were used, respectively, as controls. The behaviour of individually tested tadpoles was videorecorded for 40 min, of which 20 were before their exposure to stimuli. Five second-distance frames were compared to assess both tadpole activity and position within the arena with respect to the visual stimulus. The tadpole level of activity strongly decreased after exposure to either chemical cues alone or in combination with visual cues, while visual cues alone apparently did not elicit any defensive response. The position of tadpoles inside the arena was not affected by visual cues, suggesting that green toad tadpoles mainly rely on olfactory cues to assess the level of predation risk.

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“…It has been reported that the success of the response to an imminent predator's attack depends on the organisms' ability to detect a nearby enemy and the energy expended by each teammate in the collective action [7][8][9][10]. For this reason, many animals live in groups; thus, reducing the chances of being consumed in an eventual predator attack [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aggregation as an antipredator strategy in the rock-paper-scissors model

Menezes,

Rangel,

Moura

2022

Preprint

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We study a nonhierarchical tritrophic system, whose predator-prey interactions are described by the rock-paper-scissors game rules. In our stochastic simulations, individuals may move strategically towards the direction with more conspecifics to form clumps instead of moving aimlessly on the lattice. Considering that the conditioning to move gregariously depends on the organism's physical and cognitive abilities, we introduce a maximum distance an individual can perceive the environment and a minimum conditioning level to perform the gregarious movement. We investigate the pattern formation and compute the average size of the single-species spatial domains emerging from the grouping behaviour. The results reveal that the defence tactic reduces the predation risk significantly, being more profitable if individuals perceive further distances, thus creating bigger groups. Our outcomes show that the species with more conditioned organisms dominate the cyclic spatial game, controlling most of the territory. On the other hand, the species with fewer individuals ready to perform aggregation strategy gives its predator the chance to fill the more significant fraction of the grid. The spatial interactions assumed in our numerical experiments constitute a data set that may help biologists and data scientists understand how local interactions influence ecosystem dynamics.

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Effects of a group-living experience on the antipredator responses of individual tadpoles

Cited by 12 publications

References 44 publications

Interspecific variation in the defensive responses of brown frogs to alien predators

Interspecific variation in the defensive responses of brown frogs to alien predators

Multimodal Cues Do Not Improve Predator Recognition in Green Toad Tadpoles

Aggregation as an antipredator strategy in the rock-paper-scissors model

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