Dimitrie David A, Benard Michael F
Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Ecology. 2023 Nov;104(11):e4164. doi: 10.1002/ecy.4164. Epub 2023 Oct 3.
Preference-performance theory predicts that females should select breeding sites that maximize offspring performance. Amphibians have been a model system for investigating habitat selection, yet most studies have focused on habitat selection in response to predators and conspecifics. We investigated female oviposition site selection and larval performance in eastern gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor) among pools with and without one of two ecologically distinct heterospecific larvae, the green frog (Rana clamitans) and the American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana). Pools without heterospecifics were used on more nights and had more eggs deposited compared to pools with heterospecifics. In a competition experiment, treefrog larval performance matched this female preference: tadpoles developed faster and grew larger in the absence of either heterospecific. Although we hypothesized that bullfrogs would more strongly affect female treefrog preference and offspring performance because of previous work demonstrating that bullfrogs had stronger negative effects on other tadpoles, both heterospecifics elicited similar responses. The effects of heterospecifics on anuran breeding site selection are understudied and not well understood, and our results demonstrate that female selection of breeding sites is an adaptive behavior for offspring in the presence of heterospecific competitors.
偏好 - 表现理论预测，雌性应该选择能使后代表现最大化的繁殖地点。两栖动物一直是研究栖息地选择的模型系统，但大多数研究都集中在对捕食者和同种个体做出反应的栖息地选择上。我们研究了东部灰树蛙（雨蛙属）在有或没有两种生态上不同的异种幼虫之一（绿蛙和美国牛蛙）的池塘中的雌性产卵地点选择和幼体表现。与有异种幼虫的池塘相比，没有异种幼虫的池塘被使用的夜晚更多，且有更多的卵被产下。在一项竞争实验中，树蛙幼体的表现与雌性的这种偏好相符：在没有任何一种异种幼虫的情况下，蝌蚪发育得更快且长得更大。尽管我们假设牛蛙会对雌性树蛙的偏好和后代表现产生更强的影响，因为之前的研究表明牛蛙对其他蝌蚪有更强的负面影响，但两种异种幼虫引发了相似的反应。异种幼虫对无尾目动物繁殖地点选择的影响研究不足且了解不深，我们的结果表明，在存在异种竞争者的情况下，雌性对繁殖地点的选择是一种有利于后代的适应性行为。
