Factors influencing responses to alarm pheromones by tadpoles of invasive cane toads (Bufo marinus)

If pheromonal communication systems of invasive species differ from those of native biota, it may be possible to control the invader by exploiting that difference. When injured, the larvae of cane toads, Bufo marinus, an invasive species of major concern in tropical Australia, produce species-specific chemical cues that alert conspecific tadpoles to danger. Repeated exposure to the alarm chemical reduces tadpole survival rates and body sizes at metamorphosis and, thus, could help control toad populations. To evaluate the feasibility of this approach, we need to know how the intensity of toad tadpole response to the alarm chemical is affected by factors such as water temperature, time of day, larval stage and feeding history, geographic origin of the tadpoles, and habituation. Information on these topics may enable us to optimize deployment, so that tadpoles encounter pheromone at the times and places that confer maximum effect. In our studies, tadpole density, nutritional state, larval stage, and geographic origin had little effect on the intensity of the alarm response, but tadpoles reacted most strongly in higher water temperatures and during daylight hours. Repeated, once-daily exposure to pheromone did not induce habituation, but repeated exposure at 15-min interva

NATURVETENSKAP Biologi Ekologi hsv//swe
NATURAL SCIENCES Biological Sciences Ecology hsv//eng
Alarm pheromone - Anuran - Biological control - Chemical communication - Invasive species
Ethology and behavioural ecology
Etologi och beteendeekologi
zoologi
Zoology

In:Journal of Chemical Ecology: Springer Science and Business Media LLC35, s. 265-2710098-03311573-1561

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