Back to Search Start Over

Toxin depletion has no effect on antipredator responses in common toad ( Bufo bufo) tadpoles.

Authors :
Kurali, Anikó
Pásztor, Katalin
Hettyey, Attila
Tóth, Zoltán
Source :
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. Dec2016, Vol. 119 Issue 4, p1000-1010. 11p.
Publication Year :
2016

Abstract

Antipredator responses often involve changes in several phenotypic traits and these changes interactively influence fitness. However, gaining insight into how the overall fitness effect of the overall response comes about is notoriously difficult. One promising avenue is to manipulate a single defensive trait and observe how that modifies fitness as well as the expression of other inducible responses. In chemically-defended animals, toxins are likely to be costly to produce but it is still unknown how their depletion influences other characteristics. In the present study, we artificially depleted bufadienolide toxin stores in common toad ( Bufo bufo) tadpoles, and assessed the effect of this with respect to the interaction with predator presence and limited food availability. We found that toxin depletion in tadpoles did not significantly affect any of the measured life-history traits. Tadpoles in the predator treatment exhibited an elevated development rate, although this was only apparent when food availability was limited. Also, body mass at metamorphosis was lower in tadpoles exposed to chemical cues indicating a predation threat and when food availability was limited. These results provide evidence that, in larval common toads, the expression of inducible defences may incur fitness costs, whereas chemical defences are either expressed constitutively or, if inducible, elevated toxin production has negligible costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00244066
Volume :
119
Issue :
4
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
119533545
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1111/bij.12864