J. P. Lawrence

Michigan State University | MSU · Lyman Briggs College

Poison frogs are well known for their ability to sequester alkaloids from their diet of leaf-litter arthropods for use in defense against predators and pathogens. Australian frogs in the genus Pseudophryne (Myobatrachidae) represent an understudied lineage of poison frogs, with a unique ability to both sequester dietary alkaloids and synthesize pse...

Poison frogs are well known for their ability to sequester alkaloids from their diet of leaf-litter arthropods for use in defense against predators and pathogens. Australian frogs in the genus Pseudophryne represent an understudied lineage of poison frogs, which have the unique ability to both sequester dietary alkaloids and synthesize pseudophryna...

Many chemically-defended/aposematic species rely on diet for sequestering the toxins with which they defend themselves. This dietary acquisition can lead to variable chemical defenses across space, as the community composition of chemical sources is likely to vary across the range of (an aposematic) species. We characterized the alkaloid content of...

After decades of near‐complete extirpation, the yellow‐and‐black‐striped Southern Corroboree Frog (Pseudophryne corroboree) is being reintroduced into field enclosures that exclude all but avian predators. The frog's long absence means avian attack risk to reintroduced individuals is unknown, so we asked: does corroboree frog coloration make them v...

Aposematic organisms couple conspicuous warning signals with a secondary defense to deter predators from attacking. Novel signals of aposematic prey are expected to be selected against due to positive frequency-dependent selection. How, then, can novel phenotypes persist after they arise, and why do so many aposematic species exhibit intrapopulatio...

Differential responses to forest edges among populations of Oophaga pumilio (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from Panama. As habitat fragmentation increasingly becomes a prevalent feature in tropical systems, investigating how such novel features affect the distribution of species is of vital importance for understanding species' ecology and conservation con...

Mimicry, the resemblance of one species by another, is a complex phenomenon where the mimic (Batesian mimicry) or the model and the mimic (Mullerian mimicry) gain an advantage from this phenotypic convergence. Despite the expectation that mimics should closely resemble their models, many mimetic species appear to be poor mimics. This is particularl...

Anti-predator signaling is highly variable with numerous examples of species employing cryptic coloration to avoid detection or conspicuous coloration (often coupled with a secondary defense) to ensure detection and recollection. While the ends of this spectrum are clear in their function, how species use intermediate signals is less clear. Austral...

Different Pseudophryne species showing variability in dorsal coloration and conservativism of body shape. A) P. semimarmorata, B) P. guentheri, C) P. dendyi, D) P. australis, and E) our clay model. (DOCX)

A few colors, such as red and yellow, are commonly found in aposematic (warning) signaling across taxa, independent of evolutionary relationships. These colors have unique traits (i.e., hue, brightness) that aid in their differentiation, and perhaps, their effectiveness in promoting avoidance learning. This repeated use calls into question the infl...

Raw data for color measurements. (ZIP)

Raw data for learning trials. (XLSX)

Call surveys offer a valuable method to monitor anuran populations attributable to their temporal breeding habits and close association with water. Many temperate locations have adopted citizen science programs to monitor local anuran populations using call surveys and road transects. These surveys, however, are not commonly conducted in the tropic...