Cannibalistic Interactions Resulting from Indiscriminate Predatory Behavior in Tadpoles of Poison Frogs (Anura: Dendrobatidae) 1
Cannibalistic Interactions Resulting from Indiscriminate Predatory Behavior in Tadpoles of Poison Frogs (Anura: Dendrobatidae) 1
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毒蛙（无尾：Dendrobatidae）蝌蚪不分青红皂白的捕食行为导致同类相食的相互作用1
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发表时间：
1998
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
M. C. Araújo
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
J. Caldwell;M. C. Araújo
毒蛙属（英语：Dendrobates）的毒蛙的窝卵数非常小（在有数据的物种中有2-6个卵），通常将它们的蝌蚪单独运送到小的植物端，如凤梨水箱、叶腋、落果囊和树洞。许多物种的蝌蚪都是食肉动物，它们会吃掉使用相同微生境繁殖的昆虫的幼虫，如巨大的豆娘和蚊子。先前对毒蛙蝌蚪行为的研究和观察使我们怀疑蝌蚪是否会同类相食。我们研究了人口在巴西帕拉州的低地雨林中的Dendrobates castaneoticus，收集更多的数据在尼加拉瓜Dendrobates auratus。在巴西的研究地点，我们建立了一个由40个巴西坚果胶囊组成的网格，这是D。castaneoticus的蝌蚪沉积。在55天的研究中，有42只蝌蚪被杀死或死亡，其中16只可能是被同种蝌蚪杀死的。增长速度和时间变态是较高的蝌蚪，消耗三个或更多的蝌蚪或相对较大的幼虫的蚊子Trichoprosopon digitatum，殖民者新开的巴西坚果胶囊。我们建议，选择有利于发展的捕食行为的毒蛙蝌蚪主要作为一种机制，以消除捕食者的小phytotelmata，他们发展和同类相食是次要的结果，这种行为。捕食行为也为蝌蚪提供了食物来源，而这些食物在这些微栖息地中通常是有限的。需要对其他种类的树栖动物蝌蚪的生物学进行额外的研究，以确定该分支中捕食和同类相食行为的进化。
Poison frogs in the genus Dendrobates have very small clutch sizes (2–6 eggs among species for which there are data) and typically transport their tadpoles singly to small phytotelmata, such as bromeliad tanks, leaf axils, fallen fruit capsules, and treeholes. Tadpoles of many species are predaceous, consuming larvae of insects that use the same microhabitat for breeding, such as giant damselflies and mosquitoes. Previous studies and observations on the behavior of poison frog tadpoles led us to question whether tadpoles might be cannibalistic. We studied a population of Dendrobates castaneoticus in lowland rainforest in Pará, Brazil; additional data were collected on Dendrobates auratus in Nicaragua. At the study site in Brazil, we established a grid of 40 Brazil nut capsules, the microhabitat used by D. castaneoticus for tadpole deposition. Of 42 tadpoles deposited during the 55 days of the study, 20 were killed or died; 16 of these were presumably killed by conspecific tadpoles. Growth rate and time to metamorphosis was higher among tadpoles that consumed three or more tadpoles or relatively large larvae of the mosquito Trichoprosopon digitatum, a colonist of newly opened Brazil nut capsules. We propose that selection has favored the development of predatory behavior in poison frog tadpoles primarily as a mechanism to eliminate predators from the small phytotelmata in which they develop and that cannibalism is a secondary outcome of this behavior. Predatory behavior also provides tadpoles with a source of food, which is frequently limited in these microhabitats. Additional studies of the biology of tadpoles of other species of Dendrobates are needed to determine the evolution of predatory and cannibalistic behavior in the clade.