The role of predation risk in metamorphosis versus behavioural avoidance a sex-specific study in a facultative paedomorphic amphibian

• Published in: Oecologia Vol. 189; no. 3; pp. 637 - 645
• Main Authors: Denoël, M., Drapeau, L., Oromi, N., Winandy, L.
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Science + Business Media 01-03-2019; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: amphibian; Amphibians; Animal behavior; Animal psychology, ethology & psychobiology; anti-predator response; Aquatic reptiles; Aquatic sciences & oceanology; Avoidance; Avoidance behaviour; behavioral ecology; BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY - ORIGINAL RESEARCH; behavioural avoidance; biased sex-ratio; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Breeding; Carassus auratus; Dispersal; Dispersion; Ecology; Environmental changes; Environmental Sciences; Environmental sciences & ecology; Evolution; Evolution (Biology); experiment; facultative paedomorphosis; Females; Fish; goldfish; heterochrony; Hydrology/Water Resources; Interspecific relationships; invasives pecies; Larzac; Life cycles; Life Sciences; Lissotriton helveticus; Metamorphosis; Natural populations; palmate newt; Phenotypes; Plant Sciences; polyphenism; Predation; Predation (Biology); predation risk; progenesis; Psychologie animale, éthologie & psychobiologie; Ratios; Retirement benefits; Risk; Risk taking; Sciences aquatiques & océanologie; Sciences de l’environnement & écologie; Sciences du vivant; Sciences sociales & comportementales, psychologie; Sex; Sexual behavior; sexual differences; shelter use; Social & behavioral sciences, psychology; Facultative paedomorphosis; Invasive species; Metamorphosis; Behavioural avoidance; Polymorphism
• ISSN: 0029-8549; 1432-1939; 1432-1939
• DOI: 10.1007/s00442-019-04362-8

Evolutionary theory predicts the evolution of metamorphosis over paedomorphosis (the retention of larval traits at the adult stage) in response to life in unfavourable habitats and to the benefits of dispersal. Although many organisms are canalised into obligatory complex or simple life cycles, some species of newts and salamanders can express both processes (facultative paedomorphosis). Previous research highlighted the detrimental effect of fish on both metamorphic and paedomorphic phenotypes, but it remains unknown whether predation risk could induce shifts from paedomorphosis to metamorphosis, whether behavioural avoidance could be an alternative strategy to metamorphosis and whether these responses could be sex-biased. Testing these hypotheses is important because metamorphosed paedomorphs are dispersal individuals which could favour the long-term persistence of the process by breeding subsequently in more favourable waters. Therefore, we quantified the spatial behaviour and timing of the metamorphosis of facultative paedomorphic palmate newts Lissotriton helveticus in response to predation risk. We found that fish induced both male and female paedomorphs to hide more often, but behavioural avoidance was not predictive of metamorphosis. Paedomorphs did not metamorphose more in the presence of fish, yet there was an interaction between sex and predation risk in metamorphosis timing. These results improve our understanding of the lower prevalence of paedomorphs in fish environments and of the female-biased sex ratios in natural populations of paedomorphic newts. Integrating sex-dependent payoffs of polyphenisms and dispersal across habitats is therefore essential to understand the evolution of these processes in response to environmental change.