The influence of the presence of invasive map turtle on the activity of brown frog tadpoles.

The thesis focuses on the factors that influence locomotor activity of tadpoles. An important factor is the risk of predation. The presence of a predator or its metabolites induced in many species of tadpoles reduced locomotor activity. Another factor that affects the locomotor activity of the tadpoles is the presence in the group of conspecific individuals. A laboratory experiment was created to evaluate the influence of these two factors on the locomotor activity of Rana temporaria tadpoles in the presence of metabolites of invasive turtle Trachemys scripta elegans. In the experiment, the rate of tadpole's locomotor activity was expressed by the length of tadpole's trajectory which was measured by camera and evaluated by EthoVision software. The measurement results show that tadpoles in the presence of metabolites of turtle showed antipredator behavior, reduce their locomotor activity. The presence of the tadpole in group with 5 other conspecific individuals did not affect the locomotor activity. The group could only communicate with chemical signals. Conversely interaction was found between the effect of the presence of metabolites of predator and influence group. Tadpoles in the group in the presence of a predator showed greater locomotor activity than single tadpoles in the presence of these metabolites