Pašukonis, Andrius; Serrano-Rojas, Shirley Jennifer; Fischer, Marie-Therese; Loretto, Matthias-Claudio; Shaykevich, Daniel A; Rojas, Bibiana; Ringler, Max; Roland, Alexandre B; Marcillo-Lara, Alejandro; Ringler, Eva; Rodríguez, Camilo; Coloma, Luis A; O'Connell, Lauren A (2022). Contrasting parental roles shape sex differences in poison frog space use but not navigational performance. eLife, 11 eLife Sciences Publications 10.7554/eLife.80483
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Sex differences in vertebrate spatial abilities are typically interpreted under the adaptive specialization hypothesis, which posits that male reproductive success is linked to larger home ranges and better navigational skills. The androgen spillover hypothesis counters that enhanced male spatial performance may be a byproduct of higher androgen levels. Animal groups that include species where females are expected to outperform males based on life-history traits are key for disentangling these hypotheses. We investigated the association between sex differences in reproductive strategies, spatial behavior, and androgen levels in three species of poison frogs. We tracked individuals in natural environments to show that contrasting parental sex roles shape sex differences in space use, where the sex performing parental duties shows wider-ranging movements. We then translocated frogs from their home areas to test their navigational performance and found that the caring sex outperformed the non-caring sex only in one out of three species. In addition, males across species displayed more explorative behavior than females and androgen levels correlated with explorative behavior and homing accuracy. Overall, we reveal that poison frog reproductive strategies shape movement patterns but not necessarily navigational performance. Together this work suggests that prevailing adaptive hypotheses provide an incomplete explanation of sex differences in spatial abilities.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
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Division/Institute: |
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) > Behavioural Ecology 08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) |
UniBE Contributor: |
Ringler, Max, Ringler, Eva |
Subjects: |
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology 500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology) 000 Computer science, knowledge & systems |
ISSN: |
2050-084X |
Publisher: |
eLife Sciences Publications |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Pubmed Import |
Date Deposited: |
16 Nov 2022 09:34 |
Last Modified: |
02 May 2023 15:07 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.7554/eLife.80483 |
PubMed ID: |
36377473 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Allobates femoralis Dendrobates tinctorius Oophaga sylvatica adaptive specialization hypothesis amphibians ecology evolutionary biology testosterone spillover |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/174807 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/174807 |
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