Angiolani-Larrea Francesca N, Valencia-Aguilar Anyelet, Garrido-Priego Marina, Peignier Mélissa, Culebras Jaime, Jindiachi Lelis, Tinajero-Romero José G, Guayasamin Juan M, Ringler Eva
Division of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Institute of Animal Physiology, Department of Animal Physiology and Molecular Biomedicine, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
PLoS One. 2025 Apr 11;20(4):e0309642. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309642. eCollection 2025.
The choice of where to breed can have fundamental consequences for offspring development and survival. Among amphibians, desiccation is one of the biggest threats to offspring survival, especially in species that deposit their clutches in terrestrial habitats. In several species, hydration of the clutch is ensured by a caregiving parent, but in species without prolonged care, site selection becomes critically important for securing constant external sources of hydration. We used the Spiny Cochran frog (Teratohyla spinosa), a Neotropical glassfrog in which females perform only short-term brooding to clutches, but then both parents leave the offspring, to test the effect of oviposition site selection within leaves on offspring development and survival. Previous observations have revealed that this species preferentially deposits eggs on the underside of leaves close to their margins. We hypothesized that T. spinosa strategically chooses this position to ensure clutch hydration during embryonic development, as water drops will slide from the edges to the tip of the leaves before dripping. To this end, we performed a clutch translocation experiment where we manipulated the location of clutches by placing them away from the leaf margin and compared their level of hydration, hatching time, and mortality rate to clutches that were kept on the leaf margins. Contrary to our expectations, we found that clutch hydration and mortality were not affected by the location on the leaf. These findings suggest that the observed clutch deposition on the edges of leaves in this species is not enhancing hydration conditions - at least under high humidity conditions.
繁殖地点的选择会对后代的发育和生存产生根本性影响。在两栖动物中，脱水是对后代生存的最大威胁之一，尤其是对于那些将卵产在陆地栖息地的物种。在一些物种中，亲代会照顾卵以确保其保持湿润，但在没有长期照顾行为的物种中，产卵地点的选择对于确保稳定的外部水源至关重要。我们以多刺柯克兰蛙（Teratohyla spinosa）为例进行研究，它是一种新热带玻璃蛙，雌性只会对卵进行短期孵化，之后双亲都会离开后代。我们以此来测试在叶片上的产卵地点选择对后代发育和生存的影响。之前的观察发现，该物种会优先将卵产在靠近叶缘的叶片背面。我们推测，多刺柯克兰蛙策略性地选择这个位置是为了在胚胎发育期间确保卵保持湿润，因为水滴会从叶缘滑向叶尖然后滴落。为此，我们进行了一项卵转移实验，通过将卵放置在远离叶缘的位置来改变其位置，并将其与留在叶缘的卵在湿润程度、孵化时间和死亡率方面进行比较。与我们的预期相反，我们发现卵的湿润程度和死亡率不受叶片上位置的影响。这些发现表明，在该物种中观察到的将卵产在叶缘的行为并没有改善湿润条件——至少在高湿度条件下是这样。
