Metabolic correlates of the foraging and social behaviour of dart-poison frogs

Abstract

The foraging and social behaviour of four species of Panamanian dart-poison frogs, Dendrobatidae, were recorded and that information was combined with an analysis of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism and with published information about food habits to test predictions about associations among behavioural, ecological and physiological characteristics of anurans. Several generalizations were supported by the data. The widely foraging species of frogs made more prey capture attempts in total and took more prey at each feeding station than did the sedentary species. The widely foraging species had higher capacities for aerobic metabolism and lower anaerobic capacities than did the sedentary species. Other generalizations were not supported. Dietary habits were only loosely related to foraging mode and neither aerobic capacity nor foraging mode was a good predictor of the frequency of vocalization or of agonistic behaviour. High aerobic capacity and widely foraging behaviour may be derived characters in the family Dendrobatidae, but the metabolic and behavioural requirements of territorial defence provide an alternate hypothesis for the association of some ecological and physiological characteristics of frogs.