Conspecific cues elect distinct behavioural responses in cannibalistic poison frog tadpoles dataset
Cite this dataset
Surber-Cunningham, Lisa; Oza, Samta; Fischer, Eva (2024). Conspecific cues elect distinct behavioural responses in cannibalistic poison frog tadpoles dataset [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t33
Abstract
In cannibalistic species, conspecifics can be both predators and prey. As a result, conspecifics present a unique conflict at the intersection of predation, competition and nutritional resources in these species. To better understand how individuals respond to the complex information of conspecific chemical cues, we studied aggressive and cannibalistic tadpoles of the dyeing poison frog, Dendrobates tinctorius. We used a standardized open field test to compare behavioural responses to a positive cue (food), a negative cue (predator) and two conflicting cues (conspecific density and injured conspecifics). We specifically used chemical cues to understand how individuals respond in the absence of additional information that would disambiguate their status as conspecific predator versus prey. We found that the injured conspecific cue elicited a response distinct from either the food cue or the predator cue: tadpoles explored more relative to baseline and predator cues but spent less time moving compared to the food cue. We suggest that these patterns reflect cue-dependent behavioural strategies that maximize exploration while minimizing detection in the presence of conspecific cannibals. In addition to cue-specific changes in behaviour, we observed consistent differences in individuals’ behaviour across environments and found that activity and exploratory behaviour were positively correlated across environments. Taken together, our results demonstrate that conspecific cues are interpreted as distinct from either food cues or predator cues in a cannibalistic species where they can represent both.
README: Conspecific cues elect distinct behavioural responses in cannibalistic poison frog tadpoles dataset
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t33
This datasheet contains raw data associated with Surber et al (2023). An explanation of variable is below.
Explanation of Variable Names
frogID: identification of individuals.
tank: identification number of individual's home cup.
clutch: identification of what egg clutch tadpole was from.
daysOld: how old tadpole was at time of analysis.
day: what day of test was trial was on because of randomized order (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
test: what environmental cue type was the test (baseline, injured, density, predator, food).
camera: four open field tests were run simultaneously and side by side in opaque buckets. this variable is the position the arena was in the line of buckets.
Time: time the trial started.
Temperature: arena temperature.
mobRate: mobility rate; proportion of time spent moving during trial.
expRate: exploratory rate; proportion of areas explored in arena.
Speed: average speed (mm/s) across open field.
Distance: total distance travelled (mm) during open field.
timeCenter: total time spent in center of arena (s).
mobSpeed: average movement speed of individual while moving (mm/s)
totalLength: total body length of tadpole from tip of head to end of tail (mm).
Taillength: total length of tail (mm).
Mass: mass of individual (g)
Mom: mother of tadpole (can test for family/genetic effects).
Dad: father of tadpole (can test for family/genetic effects) (NAs produced from uncertainty of which father sired eggs).
Description of the data and file structure
This is an excel document. See above section for variable descriptions.