The Herpetological Journal
The Herpetological Journal is the Society's prestigious quarterly scientific journal. Articles are listed in Biological Abstracts, Current Awareness in Biological Sciences,Current Contents, Science Citation Index, and Zoological Record.
ISSN 0268-0130
2021 Impact Factor from Clarivate for the Herpetological Journal is 1.194, an increase of 0.332 from 2020.
pdf 05. Do predator chemical cues affect oviposition site selection in newts
883 downloads
Open Access
pp.189-193
Authors: Germán Orizaola And Florentino Braña
Abstract: Predation on larval stages has been reported to play an important role in structuring amphibian communities, and for this reason the choice of suitable oviposition places is likely to influence newt fitness. In this study, we assessed whether females of four newt species - marbled newt (Triturus marmoratus), alpine newt (T. alpestris), palmate newt (T. lzelveticus) and Bosca's newt (T. boscai) - avoid chemical cues of predatory brown trout (Salmo trutta) in selecting their oviposition site. In laboratory tests, individual females were allowed to choose their oviposition site between places with water conditioned by fish chemicals and others with unconditioned water. T. marmoratus females selected preferentially tubs without predator cues as oviposition sites, whereas the other three species did not show significant preference under these conditions. Absence of chemical recognition capabilities, strong philopatry towards oviposition site or predator avoidance based in habitat characteristics are suggested as possible causes of the lack of chemical predator avoidance detected in this experiment.
Keywords: amphibians, egg-laying, predation, Triturus, trout
Download Access:
The latest 8 issues can be downloaded when logged in with a Herpetological Journal subscription membership.
Individual articles can be purchased for download.
Older issues and occasional Open Access articles are available for public download
Submissions:
For further information and submission guidelines please see our Journal Instructions to Authors
Latest Issue
IMPORTANT NOTE - JUNE 2020
Please note that as from Volume 31 Number 1 (January 2021) on, the Herpetological Journal will be available as an online publication only - the last print edition will be Volume 30 Number 4.
Aligning with this change, it is now no longer possible to purchase a subscription that includes a print copy of the HJ. All members who have existing HJ print subscriptions that remain active as at end June 2020 will receive the full four 2020 print editions. New subscribers or renewals after this time will only have option to subscribe to the online only subscription package. Subscription pricing has been amended to reflect the content changes.