Threat-sensitive generalization of predator recognition by larval amphibians |
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Authors: | Maud C O Ferrari Grant E Brown François Messier Douglas P Chivers |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada;(2) Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada |
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Abstract: | Despite the importance of acquired predator recognition in mediating predator–prey interactions, we know little about the
specific characteristics that prey use to distinguish predators from non-predators. Recent experiments with mammals and fish
indicate that some prey lacking innate predator recognition have the ability to display anti-predator responses upon their
first encounter with those predators if they are similar to predators that the prey has recently learned to recognize. This
phenomenon is referred to as generalization of predator recognition. In this experiment, we documented for the first time
that larval amphibians (woodfrog, Rana sylvatica) have the ability to generalize the recognition of known predators to closely related novel predators. Moreover, we demonstrated
that this ability is dependent on the level of risk associated with the known predator. When red-bellied newt, Cynops pyrrhogaster (known predator), was paired with simulated low risk, tadpoles displayed fright responses to newts and novel tiger salamanders,
Ambystoma tigrinum, but not to novel African clawed frogs, Xenopus laevis. However, when the newt was paired with simulated high risk, tadpoles generalized their responses to both tiger salamanders
and African clawed frogs. Larval anurans seem to have a wider generalization frame than other animals. |
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Keywords: | Generalization Predator recognition Threat sensitivity Predator odor Larval amphibians Woodfrog Rana sylvatica |
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