Behavioral and Metabolic Responses of Juvenile Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma Maculatum) to Alarm Cues from Damaged Skin and Predator Diet

Fitness can be maximized for individuals that are able to assess the level of predation risk and perform appropriate antipredator behaviors when predation risk is high. I investigated the ability of lab-reared juvenile spotted salamanders, Ambystoma maculatum, to assess predation risk via chemical alarm cues and substrate markings from predators fed different diets. In the alarm-cue experiment, salamanders avoided substrates marked with alarm cues but not from noninjured conspecifics or alarm stimuli from heterospecifics. Snakes that had recently consumed salamanders might represent a greater threat than snakes that had consumed other prey, but salamanders did not discriminate between markings of water snake predators fed different diets in any of the three experiments (i.e., no differences in avoidance, foraging or oxygen consumption). However, salamanders tended to avoid (P = 0.054) cues from water snakes regardless of diet and showed longer latencies to feed when exposed to chemical stimuli from snakes. Data for oxygen consumption are only preliminary due to low sample size; additional data are required before definitive conclusions can be made. Overall, chemical cues associated with predation risk are likely to play an important role in the ecology of post-metamorphic spotted salamanders.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Biology

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Year

2011

Author dc:creator

• Hunt, Robert Lee

Contributors dc:contributor

• Alicia Mathis

• alarm
• behavior
• chemosensory
• predation
• salamander
• Biology

Statement dc:rights

• © Robert Lee Hunt

Repository record dc:identifier

https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/1289

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:bearworks.missouristate.edu:theses-2290