Responses of tadpoles to hybrid predator odours: strong maternal signatures and the potential risk/response mismatch.

ABSTRACT: Previous studies have established that when a prey animal knows the identity of a particular predator, it can use this knowledge to make an 'educated guess' about similar novel predators. Such generalization of predator recognition may be particularly beneficial when prey are exposed to introduced and invasive species of predators or hybrids. Here, we examined generalization of predator recognition for woodfrog tadpoles exposed to novel trout predators. Tadpoles conditioned to recognize tiger trout, a hybrid derived from brown trout and brook trout, showed generalization of recognition of several unknown trout odours. Interestingly, the tadpoles showed stronger responses to odours of brown trout than brook trout. In a second experiment, we found that tadpoles trained to recognize brown tro

SUBMITTER: Chivers DP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4590445 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature