Magda Vodrážková, Irena Šetlíková‡, Josef Navrátil‡, Michal Berec‡Corresponding author: Magda Vodrážková ( vodram02@zf.jcu.cz ) © Magda Vodrážková, Irena Šetlíková, Josef Navrátil, Michal Berec. This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Vodrážková M, Šetlíková I, Navrátil J, Berec M (2022) Presence of an alien turtle accelerates hatching of common frog (Rana temporaria) tadpoles. ARPHA Preprints. https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e80501 |  |
The presence of a predator affects prey populations either by direct predation or by modifying various parts of their life history. We investigated whether the hatching time, developmental stage, and body size at hatching of common frog (Rana temporaria) embryos would be altered in the presence of a red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) as a predator. The presence of a predator affected all factors examined. We found that in the absence of the slider, the embryos hatched in 12 days, while hatching was accelerated by two days when sliders were present. At the same time, the embryos hatched smaller and at a lower stage of development with the slider than without it. Our study extends the range of predators studied, including the effect on different phases of development of potential amphibian prey.