Nothing like home: most males of Espadarana prosoblepon (Anura Centrolenidae) exhibit homing to calling site despite the availability of alternative suitable sites for calling and mating

Abstract

Anurans that congregate to breed alongside streams are good models to answer questions about homing decisions. Specifically, they allow us to document if individuals prefer to return to their original calling site and chorus when there are closer alternative choruses from which they can call and mate. We performed a capture-recapture experiment alongside a stream with Espadarana prosoblepon (Centrolenidae) in the Central Andes of Colombia. We translocated 27 males from their original calling site and chorus to sites located either between two equidistant choruses (original and alternative choruses) or within an alternative chorus. Eighteen translocated males returned to their original calling site and chorus, three males moved or stayed in alternative choruses, and six males were never recaptured. We recorded mating in males that exhibit homing as well in those that moved toward alternative choruses. Given that homing is costly and risky for individuals, and Espadarana prosoblepon males can mate whether they call from their original chorus or from an alternative chorus, our results suggest that homing motivation is in part influenced by benefits associated with a familiar environment.

Key Words:

• behavioral ecology
• distribution pattern
• ethology
• glass frog
• Amphibia

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank D.A. Vanegas-Alarcón, J.C. Naranjo-Barreto, L.C. Echeverry-Cardona, M. Rojas-Montoya, M.P. Toro-Gómez, S. Acosta-Cruz, S. García-Murcia, and Y. López-Aguirre for their support in fieldwork. We are also grateful to D. Giura and C. Fouilloux for their English revisions, largely improving previous versions of this manuscript. Thanks to the Biology program of the Universidad del Quindío, Colombia, for logistic support and also Corporación Autónoma Regional del Quindío (CRQ), Colombia, for research permits.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ETHICAL STANDARD

All applicable international, national, or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This study was made under the research permit # 01789 (11 October 2018) of the government of Colombia

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTION

F. Vargas-Salinas and L.F. Arcila-Pérez conceived the study; D.A. Gómez-Murcia and M. del M. Bedoya-Ospina performed the experiments and collected data in field; all the authors analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript

Additional information

Funding

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the research presented.