Animal cells and systems

The Korean Society for Integrative Biology (한국통합생물학회)
권호 표지

Effectiveness and Ecological Implications of Anuran Defenses against Snake Predators

  • In-Ho Choi (Department of Life Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Yonsei University) ;
  • Sung Ho Lee (Department of Life Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Yonsei University) ;
  • Robert E. Ricklefs (Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St.)
  • Published : 1999.09.01
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Abstract

The aim of this study was to characterize antipredator tactics of anurans and to evaluate the effectiveness of these tactics for predator avoidance in real confrontations. Two types of experiments were conducted. In one experiment, one predator and one prey were placed together for one hour in a small confined space (one-to-one interaction). In another experiment, one predator and several prey were placed together for one day in a large enclosure in a field (field-based interaction). The prey consisted of three anuran species, Rana nigromaculata, R. rugosa, and Bombina orientalls: a snake species, Rhabdophis tigrinus tigrinus, was used as a predator. Results of both experiments demonstrated a range in antipredator responses of the frogs, from toxicity and warning coloration, coupled with slow responses in Bombina to little (or only slight) toxicity, crypsis, and fast take-off responses to the predator in the ranids. oth ranid species exhibited lower survival(57%) than Bombina (95%) in the field-based interaction, suggesting that motor responses of the palatable prey due to attacks of the predator ultimately limited their survival. The jumping of the ranids increased the activity of the predator, which became more likely to strike. Simple crouching(seen in R. rugosa and B. orientalis) and chemical defense (in Bombina) reduced predatory attacks.

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