Meeting Abstract
Imprinting can play an important role in the development of mate preferences. However, as imprinting is usually based on visual cues, the functionality of this mechanism depends heavily on the visual capabilities of the young animal. For imprinting to work, the young organism must have a visual system that is developed enough to enable the animal to perceive variation in the trait used in mate choice selection. In species where mate preference is color-based, this suggests that young animals must have color vision. We hypothesize that imprinting provides a mechanism for color-associated mate preferences in the tropical poison frog Oophaga pumilio, a species made up of a wide diversity of color morphs. Cross fostering experiments suggest that imprinting at the tadpole stage may be important for the development of female mate preferences in this species. However, we do not know anything about color vision in tadpoles. Experiments aimed at quantifying the visual system of these tadpoles and their ability to discriminate between colors are needed to determine how imprinting may influence mate preference. Here we examine tadpole ability to discriminate color using model frogs painted to mimic several color morphs. Our results will expand our understanding of the color vision capabilities of tadpoles and the role that sensory systems play in imprinting.
