Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:07:41.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rapid collapse of a population of Dieffenbachia spp., plants used for tadpole-rearing by a poison-dart frog (Oophaga pumilio) in a Costa Rican rain forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2014

Mark J. McKone ,
Jonathan W. Moore ,
Christopher W. Harbison ,
Ian C. Holmen ,
Hillary C. Lyons ,
Kristine M. Nachbor ,
Julia L. Michalak ,
Maurine Neiman ,
Julia L. Nicol  and
George R. Wheeler
Mark J. McKone*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
Jonathan W. Moore
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
Christopher W. Harbison
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
Ian C. Holmen
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
Hillary C. Lyons
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
Kristine M. Nachbor
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
Julia L. Michalak
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
Maurine Neiman
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
Julia L. Nicol
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
George R. Wheeler
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
*
1Corresponding author. Email: mmckone@carleton.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Amphibian populations have been declining worldwide, with multiple potential causes. At La Selva field station in north-eastern Costa Rica, previous work has shown that populations of many amphibians have decreased significantly since the 1970s, especially in primary forest. Starting in 1998, we investigated one of the most common frog species at La Selva, the poison-dart frog Oophaga pumilio (= Dendrobates pumilio). In a survey of 50 plots of 100 m2 in 1998, adult frogs were 4.6 times more abundant in secondary forest than in primary forest. Tadpoles were found only in secondary-forest plots. Almost all (89%) of the tadpoles were found in leaf axils of Dieffenbachia spp., which were much more abundant in secondary-forest than in primary-forest plots. The greater abundance of Dieffenbachia spp. in secondary forest was confirmed in a broad survey of ~11 km of trails within La Selva in 2002. When the same trails were resampled in 2012, Dieffenbachia spp. had been extirpated from 72% of the 50-m segments where plants were present in 2002; abundance was greatly reduced in the few trail segments where any Dieffenbachia spp. remained in 2012. The loss of Dieffenbachia spp., especially in secondary forest, removed the species most often used by O. pumilio for tadpole rearing. Based on counts of calling frogs in 2010, there was no difference in O. pumilio abundance in primary versus secondary forest, in striking contrast to multiple earlier surveys that found much greater frog abundance in secondary forest. We propose that the reason for the rapid decline in Dieffenbachia spp. is herbivory by the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), which has increased in abundance at La Selva in recent years. A likely consequence is continued reduction in O. pumilio populations.

Keywords

amphibian declinecollared peccaryDieffenbachia nitidipetiolatamammalian herbivoryOophaga pumilioPecari tajacuplant populationpoison-dart frograin-forest understorey
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 30 , Issue 6 , November 2014 , pp. 615 - 619
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

BROWN, J. L., MORALES, V. & SUMMERS, K. 2010. A key ecological trait drove the evolution of biparental care and monogamy in an amphibian. American Naturalist 175:436–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CROAT, T. B. 1983. Dieffenbachia (lotería, dumb cane). Pp. 234–236 in JANZEN, D. H. (ed.). Costa Rican natural history. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
CROAT, T. B. 2004. Revision of Dieffenbachia (Araceae) of Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 91:668–772.Google Scholar
DONNELLY, M. A. 1989a. Demographic effects of reproductive resource supplementation in a territorial frog, Dendrobates pumilio. Ecological Monographs 59:207–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DONNELLY, M. A. 1989b. Effects of reproductive resource supplementation on space-use patterns in Dendrobates pumilio. Oecologia 81:212–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
HEINEN, J. T. 1992. Comparisons of the leaf litter herpetofauna in abandoned cacao plantations and primary rain forest in Costa Rica: some implications for faunal restoration. Biotropica 24:431–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOF, C., ARAÚJO, M. B., JETZ, W. & RAHBEK, C. 2011. Additive threats from pathogens, climate and land-use change for global amphibian diversity. Nature 480:516–519.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MCDADE, L. A., BAWA, K. S., HESPENHEIDE, H. A. & HARTSHORN, G. S. 1994. La Selva: ecology and natural history of a Neotropical rain forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 486 pp.Google Scholar
MICHEL, N. L., SHERRY, T. W. & CARSON, W. P. 2014. The omnivorous collared peccary negates an insectivore-generated trophic cascade in Costa Rican wet tropical forest understory. Journal of Tropical Ecology 30:1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
REIDER, K. E., CARSON, W. P. & DONNELLY, M. A. 2013. Effects of collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) exclusion on leaf litter amphibians and reptiles in a Neotropical wet forest, Costa Rica. Biological Conservation 163:90–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROMERO, A., O’NEILL, B. J., TIMM, R. M., GEROW, K. G. & MCCLEARN, D. 2013. Group dynamics, behavior, and current and historical abundance of peccaries in Costa Rica's Caribbean lowlands. Journal of Mammalogy 94:771–791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TIMM, R. M., WILSON, D. E., CLAUSON, B. L., LAVAL, R. K. & VAUGHAN, C. S. 1989. Mammals of the La Selva – Braulio Carrillo complex, Costa Rica. North American Fauna 75:1–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WAINWRIGHT, M. 2002. The natural history of Costa Rican mammals. Zona Tropical Publications, Cornell University Press, Ithaca. 384 pp.Google Scholar
WAKE, D. B. & VREDENBURG, V. T. 2008. Are we in the midst of the sixth mass extinction? A view from the world of amphibians. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 105:11466–11473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WHITFIELD, S. M., BELL, K. E., PHILIPPI, T., SASA, M., BOLAÑOS, F., CHAVES, G., SAVAGE, J. M. & DONNELLY, M. A. 2007. Amphibian and reptile declines over 35 years at La Selva, Costa Rica. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104:8352–8356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
YOUNG, H. J. 1986. Beetle pollination of Dieffenbachia longispatha (Araceae). American Journal of Botany 73:931–944.CrossRefGoogle Scholar