Maternal provisioning of sequestered defensive steroids by the Asian snake Rhabdophis tigrinus

Hutchinson, Deborah A.; Savitzky, Alan H.; Mori, Akira; Meinwald, Jerrold; Schroeder, Frank C.

doi:10.1007/s00049-008-0404-5

Cited by 41 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Parents in a number of animal taxa use chemical defenses to reduce predation risk to their offspring by provisioning chemicals prior to hatching or birth (Williams et al 2011). For example, the snake Rhabdophis tigrinus sequesters bufadienolides from toads and deposits these chemicals in its offspring via yolk and oviduct (Hutchinson et al 2008). In some taxa, offspring produce or sequester their own chemical defenses (Nishida 2002, Williams et al 2011, and in other cases chemical defenses are solely maternally derived (Hutchinson et al 2008, Hayes et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of maternal provisioning of alkaloid‐based chemical defenses in the strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumilio

Stynoski

Torres-Mendoza

Sasa

et al. 2014

Ecology

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Abstract. Many organisms use chemical defenses to reduce predation risk. Aposematic dendrobatid frogs sequester alkaloid-based chemical defenses from a diet of arthropods, but research on these defenses has been limited to adults. Herein, we investigate chemical defense across development in a dendrobatid frog, Oophaga pumilio. This species displays complex parental care: at hatching, mothers transport tadpoles to phytotelmata, and then return to supply them with an obligate diet of nutritive eggs for about six weeks. We collected eggs, tadpoles, juveniles, and adults of O. pumilio, and detected alkaloids in all life stages. The quantity and number of alkaloids increased with frog and tadpole size. We did not detect alkaloids in the earliest stage of tadpoles, but alkaloids were detected as trace quantities in nutritive eggs and as small quantities in ovarian eggs. Tadpoles hand-reared with eggs of an alkaloid-free heterospecific frog did not contain alkaloids. Alkaloids that are sequestered from terrestrial arthropods were detected in both adults and phytotelm-dwelling tadpoles that feed solely on nutritive eggs, suggesting that this frog may be the first animal known to actively provision post-hatch offspring with chemical defenses. Finally, we provide experimental evidence that maternally derived alkaloids deter predation of tadpoles by a predatory arthropod.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of maternal provisioning of alkaloid‐based chemical defenses in the strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumilio

Stynoski

Torres-Mendoza

Sasa

et al. 2014

Ecology

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“…Parents defend offspring from predators with a variety of mechanisms, including supplying young with chemical defences [1][2][3][4][5]. Parental provisioning of chemical defences generally occurs before offspring are born or hatch, so the ability of offspring to deter predators diminishes with development [3,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternally derived chemical defences are an effective deterrent against some predators of poison frog tadpoles ( Oophaga pumilio )

2014

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Parents defend their young in many ways, including provisioning chemical defences. Recent work in a poison frog system offers the first example of an animal that provisions its young with alkaloids after hatching or birth rather than before. But it is not yet known whether maternally derived alkaloids are an effective defence against offspring predators. We identified the predators of Oophaga pumilio tadpoles and conducted laboratory and field choice tests to determine whether predators are deterred by alkaloids in tadpoles. We found that snakes, spiders and beetle larvae are common predators of O. pumilio tadpoles. Snakes were not deterred by alkaloids in tadpoles. However, spiders were less likely to consume mother-fed O. pumilio tadpoles than either alkaloid-free tadpoles of the red-eyed treefrog, Agalychnis callidryas , or alkaloid-free O. pumilio tadpoles that had been hand-fed with A. callidryas eggs. Thus, maternally derived alkaloids reduce the risk of predation for tadpoles, but only against some predators.

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“…Parental endowment of chemical defences is a widespread strategy known from both invertebrates and vertebrates in marine and terrestrial ecosystems [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In certain groups of insects, the mechanism and ecology of chemical protection of offspring have received much attention (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In certain groups of insects, the mechanism and ecology of chemical protection of offspring have received much attention (e.g. [3,[7][8][9]), but there is comparatively little research on vertebrate systems, even though examples of vertebrate species that produce unpalatable or poisonous offspring are increasing [4,6,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Female R. tigrinus are capable of provisioning their offspring with sequestered bufadienolides via deposition in yolk and by transfer to oviducal eggs. The transfer of sequestered steroids can occur as late as 12 days prior to oviposition [6] and even following oviposition when those compounds are experimentally applied on the eggshell [17]. Females produce chemically armed offspring in direct proportion to their own level of toxins [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Active foraging for toxic prey during gestation in a snake with maternal provisioning of sequestered chemical defences

Kojima

Mori

2015

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Many animals sequester dietary defensive compounds and incorporate them into the offspring, which protects the young against predation. One possible but poorly investigated question is whether females of such species actively prey upon toxic diets. The snake Rhabdophis tigrinus sequesters defensive steroids from toads consumed as prey; it also feeds on other amphibians. Females produce chemically armed offspring in direct proportion to their own level of toad-derived toxins by provisioning the toxins to their eggs. Our field observations of movements and stomach contents of radio-tracked R. tigrinus showed that gravid snakes preyed upon toads by actively foraging in the habitat of toads, even though toads were a scarce resource and toad-searching may incur potential costs. Our Y-maze experiments demonstrated that gravid females were more likely to trail the chemical cues of toads than were males or non-gravid females. These results showed behavioural switching in females and active foraging for scarce, toxic prey during gestation. Because exploitation of toads by gravid females results in their offspring being more richly endowed with prey-derived toxins, active foraging for toxic prey is expected to be an adaptive antipredator trait, which may enhance chemical defence in offspring.

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Maternal provisioning of sequestered defensive steroids by the Asian snake Rhabdophis tigrinus

Cited by 41 publications

References 36 publications

Evidence of maternal provisioning of alkaloid‐based chemical defenses in the strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumilio

Evidence of maternal provisioning of alkaloid‐based chemical defenses in the strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumilio

Maternally derived chemical defences are an effective deterrent against some predators of poison frog tadpoles ( Oophaga pumilio )

Active foraging for toxic prey during gestation in a snake with maternal provisioning of sequestered chemical defences

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