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Betancourth-Cundar M, Canoine V, Fusani L, Cadena CD. Does testosterone underly the interplay between male traits and territorial behavior in neotropical poison frogs? Horm Behav 2024; 162:105547. [PMID: 38677262 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2024.105547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Revised: 02/24/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024]
Abstract
The ability of individual animals to defend a territory as well as various phenotypic and behavioral traits may be targets of sexual selection used by males to evaluate their competitors or by females to choose males. A frequent question in animal behavior is whether male traits and characteristics of their territory are correlated and what are the mechanisms that may mediate such associations when they exist. Because hormones link phenotype to behavior, by studying the role of testosterone in territoriality one may come closer to understanding the mechanisms mediating correlations or lack thereof between characteristics of territories and of males. We evaluated whether variation in characteristics of territories (size and quality) are correlated with variation in morphology, coloration, testosterone, heterozygosity, and calls in two species of poison frogs. The Amazonian frog Allobates aff. trilineatus exhibits male care and defends territories only during the breeding season, while the endangered frog Oophaga lehmanni displays maternal care and defends territories throughout the year. We found that morphological traits (body length, weight, thigh size), call activity, and testosterone levels correlated with size and various indicators of quality of the territory. However, the direction of these correlations (whether positive or negative) and which specific morphological, acoustic traits or testosterone level variables covaried depended on the species. Our findings highlight an endocrine pathway as part of the physiological machinery that may underlie the interplay between male traits and territorial behavior. We were able to identify some male traits related to territory attributes, but whether females choose males based on these traits requires further research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Virginie Canoine
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Leonida Fusani
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
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2
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Dougherty LR. Meta-analysis reveals that animal sexual signalling behaviour is honest and resource based. Nat Ecol Evol 2021; 5:688-699. [PMID: 33723423 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01409-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 02/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Animals often need to signal to attract mates and behavioural signalling may impose substantial energetic and fitness costs to signallers. Consequently, individuals often strategically adjust signalling effort to maximize the fitness payoffs of signalling. An important determinant of these payoffs is individual state, which can influence the resources available to signallers, their likelihood of mating and their motivation to mate. However, empirical studies often find contradictory patterns of state-based signalling behaviour. For example, individuals in poor condition may signal less than those in good condition to conserve resources (ability-based signalling) or signal more to maximize short-term reproductive success (needs-based signalling). To clarify this relationship, I systematically searched for published studies examining animal sexual signalling behaviour in relation to six aspects of individual state: age, mated status, attractiveness, body size, condition and parasite load. Across 228 studies and 147 species, individuals (who were predominantly male) invested more into behavioural signalling when in good condition. Overall, this suggests that animal sexual signalling behaviour is generally honest and ability-based. However, the magnitude of state-dependent plasticity was small and there was a large amount of between-study heterogeneity that remains unexplained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liam R Dougherty
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
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3
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Rocha SMCDA, Lima AP, Kaefer IL. Key roles of paternal care and climate on offspring survival of an Amazonian poison frog. AN ACAD BRAS CIENC 2021; 93:e20210067. [PMID: 33909755 DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765202120210067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
In poison frogs (Dendrobatoidea), usually the males are territorial, care for terrestrial nests and later transport their offspring to waterbodies where they complete larval development. In some species, mothers care for their offspring or may exhibit flexible care to compensate for father absence. We conducted a multi-season field experiment with the Amazonian species Allobates paleovarzensis, in which it was possible to study the joint impact of paternal care and the El Niño climatic anomaly on offspring survival. The experiment consisted of two treatments: non-removal, and removal of the father from their territories. We observed that parental care was performed exclusively by the father, and none of the mothers of the 21 monitored nests transported the tadpoles. We also observed that the severe drought in a year under the influence of the El Niño event caused such a high mortality in all pre-metamorphic stages, that the role of parental care became irrelevant for offspring survival during that season. We found that pre-metamorphic Allobates paleovarzensis are highly vulnerable to the loss of paternal care. In addition, we showed that paternal care, when present, does not prevent offspring death under these increasingly frequent climatic anomalies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sulamita M C DA Rocha
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Av. André Araújo, 2936, 69011-970 Manaus, AM, Brazil
| | - Albertina Pimentel Lima
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Av. André Araújo, 2936, 69011-970 Manaus, AM, Brazil.,Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Coordenação de Pesquisas em Biodiversidade, Av. André Araújo, 2936, 69011-970 Manaus, AM, Brazil
| | - Igor Luis Kaefer
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Av. André Araújo, 2936, 69011-970 Manaus, AM, Brazil.,Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Av. Rodrigo Otávio, 6200, 69077-000 Manaus, AM, Brazil
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4
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Souza JRD, Kaefer IL, Lima AP. Calling activity determines male mating success in a territorial frog with parental care. Ethology 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jesus R. D. Souza
- Departamento de Áreas Protegidas e Biodiversidade Secretaria de Meio Ambiente do Acre Rio Branco Acre Brazil
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Zoologia Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Amazonas Manaus Amazonas Brazil
| | - Igor L. Kaefer
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Zoologia Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Amazonas Manaus Amazonas Brazil
| | - Albertina P. Lima
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Zoologia Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Amazonas Manaus Amazonas Brazil
- Coordenação de Pesquisas em Biodiversidade Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Amazonas Brazil
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Lima AP, Ferrão M, Lacerda da Silva D. Not as widespread as thought: Integrative taxonomy reveals cryptic diversity in the Amazonian nurse frog
Allobates tinae
Melo‐Sampaio, Oliveira and Prates, 2018 and description of a new species. J ZOOL SYST EVOL RES 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Albertina Pimentel Lima
- Coordenação de Biodiversidade Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Amazonas Brazil
| | - Miquéias Ferrão
- Museum of Comparative Zoology Harvard University Cambridge MA USA
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Amazonas Brazil
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6
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Valencia-Aguilar A, Zamudio KR, Haddad CFB, Bogdanowicz SM, Prado CPA. Show me you care: female mate choice based on egg attendance rather than male or territorial traits. Behav Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Female mate choice is often based on male traits, including signals or behaviors, and/or the quality of a male’s territory. In species with obligate paternal care, where care directly affects offspring survival, females may also base their mate choices on the quality of a sire’s care. Here, we quantified male reproductive success in a natural population of the glass frog Hyalinobatrachium cappellei, a species with male parental care, to determine the influence of territory quality, male traits, and paternal care behaviors on female mate choice. We found that attending males have a higher chance of gaining new clutches than nonattending males. Our results indicate that females do not select males based only on body condition, calling persistence, or territory traits. Instead, our findings support the hypothesis that females choose males based on care status. Indeed, males already attending a clutch were 70% more likely to obtain another clutch, and the time to acquire an additional clutch was significantly shorter. We also found that males adjust their parental care effort in response to genetic relatedness by caring only for their own offspring; however, remaining close to unrelated clutches serves as a strategy to attract females and increase chances of successful mating. Thus, males that establish territories that already contain clutches benefit from the signal eggs provide to females.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar
- Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Avenida 24 A, Rio Claro, São Paulo CEP, Brazil
| | - Kelly R Zamudio
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Célio F B Haddad
- Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Biodiversidade and Centro de Aquicultura, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Avenida 24 A, Rio Claro, São Paulo CEP, Brazil
| | - Steve M Bogdanowicz
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Cynthia P A Prado
- Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Avenida 24 A, Rio Claro, São Paulo CEP, Brazil
- Departamento de Morfologia e Fisiologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane km 05, Jaboticabal, São Paulo CEP, Brazil
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7
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Fischer MT, Ringler M, Ringler E, Pašukonis A. Reproductive behavior drives female space use in a sedentary Neotropical frog. PeerJ 2020; 8:e8920. [PMID: 32337103 PMCID: PMC7169969 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8920] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2020] [Accepted: 03/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Longer-range movements of anuran amphibians such as mass migrations and habitat invasion have received a lot of attention, but fine-scale spatial behavior remains largely understudied. This gap is especially striking for species that show long-term site fidelity and display their whole behavioral repertoire in a small area. Studying fine-scale movement with conventional capture-mark-recapture techniques is difficult in inconspicuous amphibians: individuals are hard to find, repeated captures might affect their behavior and the number of data points is too low to allow a detailed interpretation of individual space use and time budgeting. In this study, we overcame these limitations by equipping females of the Brilliant-Thighed Poison Frog (Allobates femoralis) with a tag allowing frequent monitoring of their location and behavior. Neotropical poison frogs are well known for their complex behavior and diverse reproductive and parental care strategies. Although the ecology and behavior of the polygamous leaf-litter frog Allobates femoralis is well studied, little is known about the fine-scale space use of the non-territorial females who do not engage in acoustic and visual displays. We tracked 17 females for 6 to 17 days using a harmonic direction finder to provide the first precise analysis of female space use in this species. Females moved on average 1 m per hour and the fastest movement, over 20 m per hour, was related to a subsequent mating event. Traveled distances and activity patterns on days of courtship and mating differed considerably from days without reproduction. Frogs moved more on days with lower temperature and more precipitation, but mating seemed to be the main trigger for female movement. We observed 21 courtships of 12 tagged females. For seven females, we observed two consecutive mating events. Estimated home ranges after 14 days varied considerably between individuals and courtship and mating associated space use made up for ∼30% of the home range. Allobates femoralis females spent large parts of their time in one to three small centers of use. Females did not adjust their time or space use to the density of males in their surroundings and did not show wide-ranging exploratory behavior. Our study demonstrates how tracking combined with detailed behavioral observations can reveal the patterns and drivers of fine-scale spatial behavior in sedentary species.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Max Ringler
- Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.,Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Eva Ringler
- Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.,Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.,Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Andrius Pašukonis
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.,Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States of America
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8
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Stückler S, Ringler M, Pašukonis A, Weinlein S, Hödl W, Ringler E. Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of the Prolonged Courtship in Brilliant-Thighed Poison Frogs, Allobates femoralis. HERPETOLOGICA 2019. [DOI: 10.1655/herpetologica-d-19-00010.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Susanne Stückler
- Department of Integrative Zoology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Max Ringler
- Department of Integrative Zoology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Andrius Pašukonis
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Steffen Weinlein
- Department of Integrative Zoology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Walter Hödl
- Department of Integrative Zoology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Eva Ringler
- Department of Integrative Zoology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
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9
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Rocha SMCD, Lima AP, Kaefer IL. Reproductive Behavior of the Amazonian Nurse-Frog Allobates paleovarzensis (Dendrobatoidea, Aromobatidae). SOUTH AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HERPETOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.2994/sajh-d-17-00076.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sulamita Marques Correia da Rocha
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Av. André Araújo 2936, 69011-970, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
| | - Albertina Pimentel Lima
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Av. André Araújo 2936, 69011-970, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
| | - Igor Luis Kaefer
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Av. André Araújo 2936, 69011-970, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
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