Abstract

Due to their striking diversity of coloration and alkaloid toxins, the dendrobatoid poison frogs of Neotropical rainforests have strengthened our understanding of the evolutionary ecology of chemical defenses and aposematism. Separately, they also serve as a model clade for the evolution of diverse forms of parental care, from tadpole transport to egg provisioning. However, we are only beginning to learn about the ways in which chemical defenses and behavior intersect to protect frogs and their offspring from predators and pathogens. This talk will offer a three-part story about (1) the integration of behavior, color, and toxins in five sympatric poison frog species in a Costa Rican rainforest, (2) the maternally provisioned chemical defenses of an obligatorily oophagous poison frog species, and (3) the discovery of secretory feeding (thanks to Netflix!) with ongoing collaborative work to characterize proteomic and microbiome profiles of maternal mucus.