Meeting Abstract

P1-88   -   Is chytrid avoidance an innate behavior in the strawberry poison frog? Prokopius, RK*; Catenazzi, AC; Florida International University; Florida International University rprok002@fiu.edu

Chytridiomycosis, a disease caused by the water-borne fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), is a leading contributor to the massive decline of the world’s amphibian populations. Though its negative effects on frogs have been studied profusely since the 1970’s, one aspect that has received relatively little attention is the ability for frogs to detect Bd in their environment and choose to avoid it. Learned avoidance of Bd has been found in several toad species, but no frog has yet been found to exhibit innate avoidance of Bd, and avoidance has never been tested in a poison frog species. This study tested the ability of Bd-naive strawberry poison frogs (Oophaga pumilio) to detect Bd through chemosensory and mechanosensory choice trials. Chemosensory trials exposed frogs to the scent of Bd without allowing them to touch the fungus. Separate trials were run with live and freshly heat-killed Bd to determine if detection ability differed depending on whether the fungus was dead or alive. Mechanosensory trials allowed frogs to physically interact with the dead fungus for the duration of the trial period. The proportion of trial time spent in the control (broth media), experiment (Bd) and neutral (habituation location) areas of the trial chambers was recorded for each frog. Generalized linear models were generated for each trial type (chemo and mechanosensory) to determine if Bd detection occurred and, if so, if that detection led to avoidance of areas with Bd present. These results will add to a growing body of literature concerning mechanisms amphibians may use to survive in a world inundated with a deadly fungal pathogen.