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

0535794 - ÚBO 2021 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Smolinský, Radovan - Baláž, V. - Nürnberger, Beate
Tadpoles of hybridising fire-bellied toads (B. bombina and B. variegata) differ in their susceptibility to predation.
PLoS ONE. Roč. 15, č. 12 (2020), č. článku e0231804. ISSN 1932-6203. E-ISSN 1932-6203
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA16-26714S
Institutional support: RVO:68081766
Keywords : Host race formation * ecological speciation * natural selection * phenotypic plasticity * breeding phenology * inducible defense * escape behavior
OECD category: Zoology
Impact factor: 3.240, year: 2020
Method of publishing: Open access
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0231804

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.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0313728


Research data: Dryad