Experience of predacious cues and accessibility to refuge minimize mortality of Hylarana temporalis tadpoles

We explored the effect of a prior experience of predation threat and access to the refuge sites on larval mortality in Hylarana temporalis with a 2 × 2 factorial design. The design included predator-na？ve or predator experienced prey subjects, and presence or absence of a natural shelter. Water scorpion adult individuals (Laccotrephes species) provided predation threat and also an opportunity to the prey to experience a direct danger of predation. Both previous experience with predators and availability of shelters affected larval survival independently and not conjointly. A prior encounter with predators enabled prey tadpoles to escape predation more effectively with a significant increase in their survival in comparison to the predator-na？ve subjects. Similarly, access to refuge sites significantly increased survival of predator-na？ve as well as predator experienced tadpoles compared to that in the absence of shelters. Clearly, ability to sense water borne predacious cues in the vicinity and use refuge sites plays a key role in escaping from predation in the bronze frog tadpoles