The Significance of Color Change in Newly Metamorphosed American Toads (Bufo a. americanus)

Heinen, Joel T.

doi:10.2307/1564685

Cited by 24 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Many fishes, reptiles and invertebrates exhibit colour plasticity within their adult lifespan (Nery & Castrucci 1997;Sugimoto 2002). Increased crypsis because of colour plasticity reduces detection by visual predators (Kats & Vandragt 1986;Donnelly & Whoriskey 1993;Heinen 1994;Arigoni et al 2002;Garcia & Sih 2003;Ryer et al 2008) and could therefore have large fitness consequences. Increased crypsis because of colour plasticity reduces detection by visual predators (Kats & Vandragt 1986;Donnelly & Whoriskey 1993;Heinen 1994;Arigoni et al 2002;Garcia & Sih 2003;Ryer et al 2008) and could therefore have large fitness consequences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Colour plasticity can serve communication purposes (e.g., Stuart-Fox & Moussalli 2008) or enhance crypsis (Ryer et al 2008;Whiteley et al 2009). Increased crypsis because of colour plasticity reduces detection by visual predators (Kats & Vandragt 1986;Donnelly & Whoriskey 1993;Heinen 1994;Arigoni et al 2002;Garcia & Sih 2003;Ryer et al 2008) and could therefore have large fitness consequences. Colour plasticity can occur over different time scales within adult organisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The spectre of past spectral conditions: colour plasticity, crypsis and predation risk in freshwater sculpin from newly deglaciated streams

Whiteley

Bergstrom

Linderoth

et al. 2010

Ecology of Freshwater Fish

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Coastrange sculpin (Cottus aleuticus) have colonised recently deglaciated streams of Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, USA, within the last 200 years. Highly cryptic colouration across a marked gradient of stream substrate colours within Glacier Bay could result from physiological (rapid) or morphological (slower) colour change. Laboratory experiments revealed that physiological colour plasticity occurred on the order of minutes, with significant variation in the degree of colour change among individuals and between populations. In contrast, morphological colour plasticity occurred on the order of weeks to months. Experimentally manipulated spectral conditions influenced the magnitude and variance of subsequent physiological colour plasticity. In-stream predation trials revealed significantly more predation attempts on higher background contrast sculpin models, providing evidence that background colour matching has strong fitness consequences. Colour plasticity with apparent fitness consequences occurs at multiple interacting time scales in coastrange sculpin and may play an important role in the colonisation of recently deglaciated streams.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The spectre of past spectral conditions: colour plasticity, crypsis and predation risk in freshwater sculpin from newly deglaciated streams

Whiteley

Bergstrom

Linderoth

et al. 2010

Ecology of Freshwater Fish

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“…Color change in response to environmental factors such as predation risk, temperature, and ultraviolet radiation has been documented in several amphibian, fish and reptile taxa (Duellman and Trueb 1986;Endler 1988). Color change by amphibian larvae in response to predation risk appears to increase crypticity and thus lower predation risk (Kats and Van Dragt 1986;Heinen 1994;Endler 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Color change and color-dependent behavior in response to predation risk in the salamander sister species Ambystoma barbouri and Ambystoma texanum

Garcia

Sih

2003

Oecologia

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Although many organisms show multiple types of trait responses to predation risk (e.g., shifts in behavior, morphology, color, chemistry or life history), relatively few studies have examined how prey integrate these multiple responses. We studied the joint expression of color and behavioral responses to predation risk in two sister species of salamander larvae that live in habitats with different selection pressures. We examined responses to predation risk in three situations that differed in availability of refuge and substrate color heterogeneity, and thus availability of behavioral options for reducing risk. Relative to Ambystoma texanum, A. barbouri larvae were darker in color and showed a greater range of color change. With no variation in background color or refuge available, both species exhibited color change to better match the available background. The degree of color change showed by both species, however, did not depend on predation risk. Given the option to choose between light and dark substrates, A. texanum exhibited behavioral background matching (i.e., they preferred substrates that matched their own body color), while A. barbouri's substrate preferences did not depend on their initial body color. Instead, A. barbouri responded to risk by showing a strong preference for dark substrates, followed by a change to a darker body color. With refuge available, A. texanum's refuge use was color-dependent; larvae that were well camouflaged spent less time in refuge. In contrast, A. barbouri showed strong refuge use in response to risk, regardless of their body color. Overall, these results reflect how conflicting selection pressures (predation risk, habitat ephemerality, risk of UV damage) and species differences in mean color and ability to change color can govern the interplay of complementary and compensatory behavioral and color responses to predation risk.

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“…Several amphibian species closely match the reflectance properties of their background in relatively uniform habitats (Norris and Lowe 1964). Most studies of amphibian crypsis have focused on metamorphosed terrestrial individuals (Norris and Lowe 1964;Nielsen and Dyck 1978;Kats and Van Draght 1986;Heinen 1994), although predation pressure in the aquatic larval environment is often greater than on terrestrial adults (Duellman and Trueb 1986). Some researchers have studied adaptive coloration in larval amphibians, such as plasticity or polymorphism in tail color (Caldwell 1982;McCollum and VanBuskirk 1996), but crypsis, per se, has been studied less often.…”

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confidence: 99%

Adaptive Coloration and Gene Flow as a Constraint to Local Adaptation in the Streamside Salamander, Ambystoma barbouri

Storfer¹,

Cross²,

Rush³

et al. 1999

Evolution

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Predation is an important selective force that influences animal color patterns. Some larval populations of the streamside salamander, Ambystoma barbouri, inhabit streams with fish predators. Other larval salamanders are found in shallow, ephemeral streams that are predator-free. Quantitative melanophore cell counts and estimates of percent body area pigmented indicated that larval coloration is strongly correlated with stream type. Larvae that coexist with fish tend to be lighter than larvae from streams that are Ashless and ephemeral. Two approaches demonstrated that lightly pigmented salamander larvae better match the common background in relatively permanent streams and are less conspicuous to fish than dark larvae. First, using a model based on the spectral sensitivity of the fish and reflectance properties of salamanders and natural stream backgrounds, we showed that light larvae are three times more cryptic than dark larvae on rocks. Second, lighter larvae had higher survival than darker salamanders on rocks in a predator- choice experiment. It is not clear why larvae in ephemeral streams are darker. Larvae in ephemeral streams should be active to feed and develop rapidly and reach sufficient size to metamorphose before seasonal drying. Several hypotheses may explain why larvae tend to be darker in ephemeral streams, such as increased thermoregulatory ability, better screening of ultraviolet radiation (in these shallower streams), or better background matching to terrestrial predators. Among populations where salamander larvae coexist with fish, there are differences in relative crypsis. Larvae from populations with fish and relatively high gene flow from ephemeral populations (where larvae are dark) tend to be darker (with more melanophores) and more conspicuous to predators than those from more genetically isolated populations, where larvae are lighter and more cryptic. These differences illustrate the role of gene flow as a constraint to adaptive evolution.

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The Significance of Color Change in Newly Metamorphosed American Toads (Bufo a. americanus)

Cited by 24 publications

References 26 publications

The spectre of past spectral conditions: colour plasticity, crypsis and predation risk in freshwater sculpin from newly deglaciated streams

The spectre of past spectral conditions: colour plasticity, crypsis and predation risk in freshwater sculpin from newly deglaciated streams

Color change and color-dependent behavior in response to predation risk in the salamander sister species Ambystoma barbouri and Ambystoma texanum

Adaptive Coloration and Gene Flow as a Constraint to Local Adaptation in the Streamside Salamander, Ambystoma barbouri

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