Koryn McNeil | 2024 I.S. Symposium

Name: Koryn McNeil
Title: “Frogtastic Moms”: Analysis of Variation Within Maternal Care of Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs in Comparison to Ecological Variables and Reproductive Success
Major:  Biology
Pathway: Pre-Veterinary
Advisors: Rick Lehtinen; Laura Sirot (second reader)

Maternal care is one of the many forms of parental care that exist in animal species. Female Strawberry poison dart frogs (Oophaga pumilio) display maternal care through egg feeding for their tadpole offspring over an extended period, despite having an abnormally low clutch size. My observational study aims to examine what influences an extreme level of parental investment. I looked at individual variation, phenotype variation, ecological variables, and reproductive success, which were all compared to the frequency of maternal care. I hypothesized that variation and ecological variables can decrease or increase the frequency of maternal care, which shows the possibility of personality in maternal care. I also suspected that reproductive success has a positive correlation with the frequency of maternal care. Observations of 10 adult females occurred in a greenhouse at the College of Wooster located in Wooster, Ohio. Observed female strawberry poison dart frogs (O. pumilio) showed differences in their frequency of maternal care with phenotype variation of color morph, individual variation of female identity, and ecological variables of time of day and bromeliad sizes. There were no differences in females’ frequency of maternal care with their reproductive success, and ecological variables of seasonal differences, environmental conditions, temperature, and mating calls from male strawberry poison dart frogs (O. pumilio). My study demonstrates how maternal care does portray an important aspect of animal behavior, despite not being included in earlier scientific literature; and how parental care as a whole could be applied to other fields of biology.

Posted in Symposium 2024 on April 19, 2024.