The phenotypic and genetic response patterns of Rana chaochiaoensis to kairomones from native (Ya-fish Schizothorax prenanti) and translocated fish (goldfish Carassius auratus) species

The introduction of alien species poses a serious threat to native biodiversity, and mountain lake systems in the southwest of China are particularly vulnerable to the introduction of non-native fish. The prey naivety hypothesis states that native species may not be able to recognize novel introduced species due to a lack of common evolutionary background and therefore become easy targets, so the impacts of alien fish on mountain endemic amphibians need to be urgently assessed. Therefore, we conducted a mesocosm experiment, exposing the tadpoles of Chaochiao Brown frog (Rana chaochiaoensis), endemic to western China, to kairomones of both native (Ya-fish Schizothorax prenanti) and translocated fish (goldfish Carassius auratus) species, with the aim of comparing their phenotypic and genetic response patterns and proposing conservation recommendations.