Correlates of homing performance in Oophaga histrionica

Homing is the ability to return to previously visited sites, often to the home range. Most studies have focused on the mechanisms used to home, but few have addressed the cost-benefit analysis of homing behavior, e.g., by testing for associations between homing performance and ecological factors. We aimed to study homing ability in males of the poison frog, Oophaga histrionica, by testing the general hypothesis that homing performance depends upon potential indicators of territory quality or the risk of losing it. First, we tested whether return time was related to displacement distance, body size, number of courtships during the previous month, or distance to nearest neighbors. All males homed and males that were displaced 10 meters (m) from their territories returned significantly faster than males displaced 25 or 40 m. Yet none of the ecological variables affected homing ability. In a second experiment, we tested whether males’ homing performance was affected by adding or removing ac...