Predation risk and competition effects on the life-history characteristics of larval Oregon spotted frog and larval red-legged frog.

Abstract

We conducted an artificial pond experiment to test hypotheses about the effects of competition and non-lethal predator cues on metamorphic characteristics of sympatric Oregon spotted frogs (Rana pretiosa) and red-legged frogs (Rana aurora) in southwestern British Columbia. Tadpoles were exposed to the presence or absence of one another, two density levels and to the presence or absence of predacious odonate larvae (Aeshna palmata) isolated in enclosures. In the artificial pond study, R. aurora were significantly larger at metamorphosis (12%) and exhibited only slightly longer larval periods when exposed to Aeshna. In the presence of R. pretiosa, they significantly decreased time to metamorphosis, and were significantly larger at metamorphosis (12%) than those reared alone. Rana pretiosa in treatments with R. aurora were somewhat larger at metamorphosis when a non-lethal predator was present, and in treatments where R. pretiosa were alone with a predator tadpole mass at metamorphosis was smaller than those in the absence of Aeshna, but these results were not statistically significant. Both species reduced activity and moved away from the predator in the presence of an enclosed dragonfly larva in the laboratory. Most tadpole mesocosm experiments have found that the trade-off between size and timing of metamorphosis is extremely important to amphibians, but we suggest that the trade-off discussed in traditional amphibian models may not apply to species like R. pretiosa that are exposed to the same gape-limited predators upon reaching metamorphosis.