Orientation and navigation in Bufo bufo: a quest for repeatability of arena experiments

By

Pail, Markus
Landler, Lukas
Gollmann, Günter

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2020-8-14

Original Publication

Subterranean Biology

Volume

33

Pages

139--147

Subjects

Amphibia , behavioural ecology , Bufonidae , direction following , MANOVA , Migration

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.33.e52854

 

Abstract

Research on navigation in animals is hampered by conflicting results and failed replications. In order to assess the generality of previous results, maleBufo bufowere collected during their breeding migration and translocated to two testing sites, 2.4 and 2.9 km away, respectively, from their breeding pond in the north of Vienna (Austria). There each toad was tested twice for orientation responses in a circular arena, on the night of collection and four days later. On the first test day, the toads showed significant axial orientation along their individual former migration direction. On the second test day, no significant homeward orientation was detected. Both results accord with findings of previous experiments with toads from another population. We analysed the potential influence of environmental factors (temperature, cloud cover and lunar cycle) on toad orientations using a MANOVA approach. Although cloud cover and lunar cycle had small effects on the second test day, they could not explain the absence of homeward orientation. The absence of homing responses in these tests may be either caused by the absence of navigational capabilities of toads beyond their home ranges, or by inadequacies of the applied method. To resolve this question, tracking of freely moving toads should have greater potential than the use of arena experiments.