A1 Journal article (refereed)
Aposematism facilitates the diversification of parental care strategies in poison frogs (2021)
Carvajal-Castro, J. D., Vargas-Salinas, F., Casas-Cardona, S., Rojas, B., & Santos, J. C. (2021). Aposematism facilitates the diversification of parental care strategies in poison frogs. Scientific Reports, 11, Article 19047. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97206-6
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Carvajal-Castro, Juan D.; Vargas-Salinas, Fernando; Casas-Cardona, Santiago; Rojas, Bibiana; Santos, Juan C.
Journal or series: Scientific Reports
eISSN: 2045-2322
Publication year: 2021
Publication date: 24/09/2021
Volume: 11
Article number: 19047
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Publication country: United Kingdom
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97206-6
Research data link: https://figshare.com/s/338fc287ef792d432bb8
Publication open access: Openly available
Publication channel open access: Open Access channel
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/78360
Publication is parallel published: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8463664/
Abstract
Many organisms have evolved adaptations to increase the odds of survival of their offspring. Parental care has evolved several times in animals including ectotherms. In amphibians, ~ 10% of species exhibit parental care. Among these, poison frogs (Dendrobatidae) are well-known for their extensive care, which includes egg guarding, larval transport, and specialized tadpole provisioning with trophic eggs. At least one third of dendrobatids displaying aposematism by exhibiting warning coloration that informs potential predators about the presence of defensive skin toxins. Aposematism has a central role in poison frog diversification, including diet specialization, and visual and acoustic communication; and it is thought to have impacted their reproductive biology as well. We tested the latter association using multivariate phylogenetic methods at the family level. Our results show complex relationships between aposematism and certain aspects of the reproductive biology in dendrobatids. In particular, aposematic species tend to use more specialized tadpole-deposition sites, such as phytotelmata, and ferry fewer tadpoles than non-aposematic species. We propose that aposematism may have facilitated the diversification of microhabitat use in dendrobatids in the context of reproduction. Furthermore, the use of resource-limited tadpole-deposition environments may have evolved in tandem with an optimal reproductive strategy characterized by few offspring, biparental care, and female provisioning of food in the form of unfertilized eggs. We also found that in phytotelm-breeders, the rate of transition from cryptic to aposematic phenotype is 17 to 19 times higher than vice versa. Therefore, we infer that the aposematism in dendrobatids might serve as an umbrella trait for the evolution and maintenance of their complex offspring-caring activities.
Keywords: frogs; evolution; diversification; animal behaviour; reproductive behaviour; warning coloration
Contributing organizations
Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2021
JUFO rating: 1