Data from: not enough time: short-term female presence after oviposition does not improve egg survival in the Emerald glass frog

In species exhibiting egg attendance, parents remain with their eggs,
protecting them against harsh abiotic conditions, such as dehydration or
drowning, and biotic conditions, such as predation, parasitism, and
diseases. This form of post-oviposition parental care is widely observed
in animals, including amphibians. Long-term egg attendance (spanning
several days) is common among glass frogs, and removal experiments have
demonstrated the critical role of the parent, whether male or female, in
increasing egg survival. However, in a few glass frog species, females
stay close to their eggs for less than three hours after oviposition.
Previous studies have found that maternal presence reduces dehydration and
predation despite the short duration of this attendance behavior. In the
glass frog Espadarana prosoblepon, females remain close to their eggs for
less than 1.5 hours after oviposition. Given that the embryonic
development period in this species spans an average of 25 days, our main
question was whether remaining with the clutch for only 0.15% of this time
is sufficient to increase egg survival. To address this question, we
conducted a female removal experiment in semi-captivity and found no
evidence that female presence improves egg hydration after oviposition. In
a maternal commitment behavioral assay, most females promptly abandoned
their clutches when subjected to a gentle disturbance and did not return
to them. Lastly, a female removal experiment under field conditions
revealed that clutches with or without mothers experienced similar levels
of mortality, primarily caused by invertebrate predators. Through a series
of experimental assays, we demonstrate that the short-term female presence
in E. prosoblepon does not increase egg survival. Therefore, we argue that
the post-oviposition behavior observed in this species cannot be
considered parental care behavior. Our findings challenge the assumption
that the proximity of parents and their eggs is an unequivocal indicator
of parental care.