REPRODUCTIVE ECOLOGY AND PARENTAL CARE IN A SOUTHEAST ASIAN TREEFROG

Abstract

PARENTAL CARE IS A REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGY THAT INCREASES FITNESS OF PARENTS BY HAVING MORE SURVIVING OFFSPRING. I USED IN-SITU OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS TO STUDY THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF PARENTAL BEHAVIOR IN A SOUTHEAST ASIAN TREEFROG, CHIROMANTIS HANSENAE. FEMALE FROGS THAT ATTENDED EGG CLUTCHES CONTRIBUTED TO OFFSPRING SURVIVAL PRIMARILY BY PREVENTING EGG DESICCATION. DEFENSE AGAINST PREDATORS AND ABILITY TO DIFFERENTIATE RISK LEVELS WAS SEX-SPECIFIC AND ONLY PRESENT IN FEMALE FROGS CARING FOR THEIR EGGS. MATERNAL DEFENSE WAS POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH PREDATION RISKS AND WAS NOT INFLUENCED BY OFFSPRING AGE. WHEN EXPOSED TO PREDATION CUES, BOTH YOUNG AND OLD EGGS SHORTENED THEIR EMBRYONIC PERIOD BY HATCHING EARLY. HATCHING TIME WAS NOT CORRELATED WITH DURATION OF MATERNAL EGG ATTENDANCE. RATHER, EMBRYONIC RESPONSE TO CUES DEPENDED ON THEIR DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE. THIS IS THE FIRST EMPIRICAL, EXPERIMENTALLY-DRIVEN, PARENTAL CARE RESEARCH ON A SOUTHEAST ASIAN AMPHIBIAN.