ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2019
The cost of chemical defence: the impact of toxin depletion on growth and behaviour of cane toads ( Rhinella marina).
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Changes in the chemical defenses of an invasive toad indicate drivers and limitations of adaptation.iScience · 2026Article
- Article
- Citizen science data reveals widespread sexual dichromatism in the European fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra).BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Do changes in body mass alter white blood cell profiles and immune function in Australian cane toads (Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Proteins from toad's parotoid macroglands: do they play a role in gland functioning and chemical defence?Frontiers in zoology · 2023Article
- Intrinsic Factors Associated with Dietary Toxin Quantity and Concentration in the Nuchal Glands of a Natricine Snake Rhabdophis Tigrinus.Journal of chemical ecology · 2023Article
- Choosy cannibals: Targeted consumption of conspecific hatchlings by larval cane toads is triggered by species-specific defensive toxins.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Article
- Spatial ecology of cane toads (Rhinella marina) in their native range: a radiotelemetric study from French Guiana.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Variation in size and shape of toxin glands among cane toads from native-range and invasive populations.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Differences in morphology and in composition and release of parotoid gland secretion in introduced cane toads (Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- An Economic Dilemma Between Molecular Weapon Systems May Explain an Arachno-atypical Venom in Wasp Spiders (Biomolecules · 2020Article
- The impact of multiple climatic and geographic factors on the chemical defences of Asian toads (Bufo gargarizans Cantor).Scientific reports · 2019Article
- The cost of chemical defence: the impact of toxin depletion on growth and behaviour of cane toads ( Rhinella marina).Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many animals capable of deploying chemical defences are reluctant to use them, suggesting that synthesis of toxins imposes a substantial cost. Typically, such costs have been quantified by measuring the elevation in metabolic rate induced by toxin depletion (i.e. during replenishment of toxin stores). More generally, we might expect that toxin depletion will induce shifts in a broad suite of fitness-relevant traits. In cane toads ( Rhinella marina), toxic compounds that protect against predators and pathogens are stored in large parotoid (shoulder) glands. We used correlational and experimental approaches in field and laboratory settings to investigate impacts of toxin depletion on growth rate and behaviour in cane toads. In free-ranging toads, larger toxin stores were associated with smaller gonads and livers, suggesting energetic trade-offs between toxin production and both reproduction and energy metabolism. Experimental removal of toxin (by manually squeezing parotoid glands) reduced rates of growth in body mass in both captive and free-ranging toads. Radio tracking demonstrated that de-toxined toads dispersed more slowly than did control toads. Given that toxin stores in cane toads take several months to fully replenish, deploying toxin to repel a predator may impose a substantial cost, explaining why toads use toxin only as a final line of defence.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.