INVESTIGADORES
PUETA mariana
artículos
Título:
Lack of functional link in the tadpole morphology induced by predators
Autor/es:
M GABRIELA PEROTTI; MARIANA PUETA; FABIAN G JARA; CARMEN A UBEDA; DEBORA LINA MORENO AZOCAR
Revista:
Current Zoology
Editorial:
Oxford University Press
Referencias:
Año: 2016 vol. 62 p. 227 - 235
ISSN:
1674-5507
Resumen:
Most studies of predator-induced plasticity have focused on documenting how prey species respondto predators by modifying phenotypic traits and how traits correlate with fitness. We havepreviously shown that Pleurodema thaul tadpoles exposed to the dragonfly Rhionaeschna variegataresponded strongly by showing morphological changes, less activity, and better survival thannon-exposed tadpoles. Here, we tested whether there is a functional link between morphologicalplasticity and increased survival in the presence of predators. Tadpoles that experienced predationrisk were smaller, less developed, and much less active than tadpoles without this experience.Burst speed did not correlate significantly with morphological changes and predator-induceddeeper tails did not act as a lure to divert predator strikes away from the head. Although we havepreviously found that tadpoles with predator-induced morphology survive better under a directpredator threat, our results on the functional link between morphology and fitness are not conclusive.Our results suggest that in P. thaul tadpoles (1) burst speed is not important to evade predators,(2) those exposed to predators reduce their activity, and (3) morphological changes do notdivert predator attacks away from areas that compromise tadpole survival. Our results showthat morphological changes in P. thaul tadpoles do not explain burst speed or lure attraction, althoughthere was a clear reduction of activity, which itself reduces predation. We propose thatchanges in tadpole activity could be further analyzed from another perspective, with morphologicalchange as an indirect product of behavior mediated by physiological mechanisms.