1. The relative importance of prey‑borne and predator‑borne chemical cues for inducible antipredator responses in tadpoles
- Author
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Hettyey, Attila, Toth, Zoltan, Thonhauser, Kerstin E, Frommen, Joachim G, Penn, Dustin J, Van Buskirk, Josh, Hettyey, Attila, Toth, Zoltan, Thonhauser, Kerstin E, Frommen, Joachim G, Penn, Dustin J, and Van Buskirk, Josh
- Abstract
Chemical cues that evoke anti-predator developmental changes have received considerable attention, but it is not known to what extent prey use information from the smell of predators and from cues released through digestion. We conducted an experiment to determine the importance of various types of cues for the adjustment of anti-predator defences. We exposed tadpoles (common frog, Rana temporaria) to water originating from predators (caged dragonfl larvae, Aeshna cyanea) that were fed different types and quantities of prey outside of tadpolerearing containers. Variation among treatments in the magnitude of morphological and behavioural responses was highly consistent. Our results demonstrate that tadpoles can assess the threat posed by predators through digestionreleased, prey-borne cues and continually released predator-borne cues. These cues may play an important role in the fie-tuning of anti-predator responses and signifiantly affect the outcome of interactions between predators and prey in aquatic ecosystems. There has been much confusion regards terminology used in the literature, and therefore we also propose a more precise and consistent binomial nomenclature based on the timing of chemical cue release (stress-, attack-, capture-, digestion- or continually released cues) and the origin of cues (prey-borne or predator-borne cues). We hope that this new nomenclature will improve comparisons among studies on this topic.
- Published
- 2015