Cargando…
Shifts in the foraging tactics of crocodiles following invasion by toxic prey
Biological invasions can modify the behaviour of vulnerable native species in subtle ways. For example, native predators may learn or evolve to reduce foraging in conditions (habitats, times of day) that expose them to a toxic invasive species. In tropical Australia, freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylu...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2022
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8786828/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35075144 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03629-6 |
_version_ | 1784639203464708096 |
---|---|
author | Aiyer, Abhilasha Shine, Richard Somaweera, Ruchira Bell, Tina Ward-Fear, Georgia |
author_facet | Aiyer, Abhilasha Shine, Richard Somaweera, Ruchira Bell, Tina Ward-Fear, Georgia |
author_sort | Aiyer, Abhilasha |
collection | PubMed |
description | Biological invasions can modify the behaviour of vulnerable native species in subtle ways. For example, native predators may learn or evolve to reduce foraging in conditions (habitats, times of day) that expose them to a toxic invasive species. In tropical Australia, freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus johnstoni) are often fatally poisoned when they ingest invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina). The risk may be greatest if toads are seized on land, where a predator cannot wash away the toxins before they are absorbed into its bloodstream. Hence, toad invasion might induce crocodiles to forage in aquatic habitats only, foregoing terrestrial hunting. To test this idea, we conducted standardised trials of bait presentation to free-ranging crocodiles in sites with and without invasive toads. As anticipated, crocodiles rapidly learned to avoid consuming toads, and shifted to almost exclusively aquatic foraging. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8786828 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-87868282022-01-25 Shifts in the foraging tactics of crocodiles following invasion by toxic prey Aiyer, Abhilasha Shine, Richard Somaweera, Ruchira Bell, Tina Ward-Fear, Georgia Sci Rep Article Biological invasions can modify the behaviour of vulnerable native species in subtle ways. For example, native predators may learn or evolve to reduce foraging in conditions (habitats, times of day) that expose them to a toxic invasive species. In tropical Australia, freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus johnstoni) are often fatally poisoned when they ingest invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina). The risk may be greatest if toads are seized on land, where a predator cannot wash away the toxins before they are absorbed into its bloodstream. Hence, toad invasion might induce crocodiles to forage in aquatic habitats only, foregoing terrestrial hunting. To test this idea, we conducted standardised trials of bait presentation to free-ranging crocodiles in sites with and without invasive toads. As anticipated, crocodiles rapidly learned to avoid consuming toads, and shifted to almost exclusively aquatic foraging. Nature Publishing Group UK 2022-01-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8786828/ /pubmed/35075144 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03629-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Article Aiyer, Abhilasha Shine, Richard Somaweera, Ruchira Bell, Tina Ward-Fear, Georgia Shifts in the foraging tactics of crocodiles following invasion by toxic prey |
title | Shifts in the foraging tactics of crocodiles following invasion by toxic prey |
title_full | Shifts in the foraging tactics of crocodiles following invasion by toxic prey |
title_fullStr | Shifts in the foraging tactics of crocodiles following invasion by toxic prey |
title_full_unstemmed | Shifts in the foraging tactics of crocodiles following invasion by toxic prey |
title_short | Shifts in the foraging tactics of crocodiles following invasion by toxic prey |
title_sort | shifts in the foraging tactics of crocodiles following invasion by toxic prey |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8786828/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35075144 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03629-6 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT aiyerabhilasha shiftsintheforagingtacticsofcrocodilesfollowinginvasionbytoxicprey AT shinerichard shiftsintheforagingtacticsofcrocodilesfollowinginvasionbytoxicprey AT somaweeraruchira shiftsintheforagingtacticsofcrocodilesfollowinginvasionbytoxicprey AT belltina shiftsintheforagingtacticsofcrocodilesfollowinginvasionbytoxicprey AT wardfeargeorgia shiftsintheforagingtacticsofcrocodilesfollowinginvasionbytoxicprey |