Is thermal sensitivity affected by predation risk? A case study in tadpoles from ephemeral environments

MILOCH, DANIELA; CECCHETTO NICOLAS; LESCANO, JN; LEYNAUD G.; PEROTTI MG

JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY PART A-ECOLOGICAL GENETICS AND PHYSIOLOGY

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2024 p. 1 - 10

1932-5223

Changes in environmental temperature may induce variations in thermal toleranceand sensitivity in ectotherm organisms. These variations generate plastic responsesthat can be analyzed by examining their Thermal Performance Curves (TPCs).Additionally, some performance traits, like locomotion, could be affected by otherfactors such as biological interactions (e.g., predator–prey interaction). Here, weevaluate if the risk of predation modifies TPCs in Mendoza four‐eyed frog(Pleurodema nebulosum, Burmeister, 1861) and Guayapa´s four‐eyed frog (Pleurodemaguayapae, Barrio, 1964), two amphibian species that occur in ephemeral ponds inarid environments. We measured thermal tolerances and maximum swimmingvelocity at six different temperatures in tadpoles under three situations: control,exposure to predator chemical cues, and exposure to conspecific alarm cues. TPCswere fitted using General Additive Mixed Models. We found that curves of tadpolesat risk of predation differed from those of control mainly in thermal sensitivityparameters. Our work confirms the importance of biotic interactions have in thermalphysiology.