Dataset Information

Tadpoles of hybridising fire-bellied toads (B. bombina and B. variegata) differ in their susceptibility to predation.

ABSTRACT: The role of adaptive divergence in the formation of new species has been the subject of much recent debate. The most direct evidence comes from traits that can be shown to have diverged under natural selection and that now contribute to reproductive isolation. Here, we investigate differential adaptation of two fire-bellied toads (Anura, Bombinatoridae) to two types of aquatic habitat. Bombina bombina and B. variegata are two anciently diverged taxa that now reproduce in predator-rich ponds and ephemeral aquatic sites, respectively. Nevertheless, they hybridise extensively wherever their distribution ranges adjoin. We show in laboratory experiments that, as expected, B. variegata tadpoles are at relatively greater risk of predation from dragonfly larvae, even when they display a predator-induced phenotype. These tadpoles spent relatively more time swimming and so prompted more attacks from the visually hunting predators. We argue in the discussion that genomic regions linked to high activity in B. variegata should be barred from introgression into the B. bombina gene pool and thus contribute to gene flow barriers that keep the two taxa from merging into one.

SUBMITTER: Smolinsky R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7721483 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Tadpoles of hybridising fire-bellied toads (B. bombina and B. variegata) differ in their susceptibility to predation.

Smolinský Radovan R Baláž Vojtech V Nürnberger Beate B

PloS one 20201207 12

The role of adaptive divergence in the formation of new species has been the subject of much recent debate. The most direct evidence comes from traits that can be shown to have diverged under natural selection and that now contribute to reproductive isolation. Here, we investigate differential adaptation of two fire-bellied toads (Anura, Bombinatoridae) to two types of aquatic habitat. Bombina bombina and B. variegata are two anciently diverged taxa that now reproduce in predator-rich ponds and ...[more]

PMID: 33285552

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Project description:Yellow-bellied toad populations (Bombina variegata) show a wide fast-slow continuum of the life-history trait longevity ranging from 5 to 23 years. We investigated populations in Germany (n = 8) and Austria (n = 1) to determine their position within the continuum of longevity and the potential drivers of adult survival at the local and the continental scale. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors considered were local weather, nutritional state, allocation of ingested energy to somatic growth, pathogen prevalence, and geographical clines (latitude, altitude, and longitude). Capture-mark-recapture (CMR) monitoring and direct age assessment by skeletochronology allowed for reliable estimates of longevity and adult survival. Raw and corrected recapture rates as well as a probabilistic estimate of the lifespan of the eldest 1% adults of a cohort (CMR data) were used as surrogates for adult survival and thus longevity in a population. Additionally, survival rates were calculated from static life tables based on the age structure (skeletochronological data) of eight populations. Populations in Germany were short-lived with a maximum lifespan of annual cohorts varying from 5 to 8 years, whereas the population in Austria was long-lived with a cohort longevity of 13 to 23 years. We provide evidence that annual survival rates and longevity differ among years and between short- and long-lived populations, but there was no decrease of survival in older toads (i.e. absence of senescence). Variation of weather among years accounted for 90.7% of variance in annual survival rates of short-lived populations, whereas the sources of variation in the long-lived population remained unidentified. At the continental scale, longevity variation among B. variegata populations studied so far did not correspond to geographical clines or climate variation. Therefore, we propose that a population's position within the fast-slow continuum integrates the response to local environmental stochasticity (extrinsic source of variation) and the efficiency of chemical antipredator protection determining the magnitude of longevity (intrinsic source of variation).

Dataset Information

Tadpoles of hybridising fire-bellied toads (B. bombina and B. variegata) differ in their susceptibility to predation.

Publications

Tadpoles of hybridising fire-bellied toads (B. bombina and B. variegata) differ in their susceptibility to predation.

Similar Datasets

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