Transitions between aquatic and terrestrial habitats are significant steps in vertebrate evolution. Due to the different biophysical demands on the whole organism in water and air, such transitions require major changes of many physiological functions, including feeding. Accordingly, the capability to modulate the pre-programmed chain of prey-capture movements might be essential to maintain performance in a new environment. Newts are of special interest in this regard as they show a multiphasic lifestyle where adults change seasonally between an aquatic and a terrestrial stage. For instance, the Alpine newt is capable of using tongue prehension to feed on land only when in the terrestrial stage, but still manages to suction feed if immersed whilst in terrestrial stage. During the aquatic stage, terrestrial feeding always involved grasping prey by the jaws. Here, we show that this seasonal shift in feeding behavior is also present in a species with a shorter terrestrial stage, the smooth newt Lissotriton vulgaris. Behavioral variability increases when animals change from aquatic to terrestrial strikes in the aquatic stage, but prey-capture movements seem to be generally well-coordinated across the feeding modes. Only suction feeding in the terrestrial stage was seldom performed and appeared uncoordinated. Our results indicate that newts exhibit a high degree of seasonal flexibility of the prey-capture behavior. The similarity between movement patterns of suction feeding and terrestrial feeding suggests that only relatively subtle neuromotoric adjustments to the ancestral, suction-feeding motor program are required to successfully feed in the new environment.

中文翻译：

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灵活性就是一切：在光滑的蝾螈 Lissotriton vulgaris 中，整个季节性栖息地的猎物捕获

水生和陆地生境之间的过渡是脊椎动物进化的重要步骤。由于在水和空气中对整个生物体的生物物理要求不同，这种转变需要许多生理功能的重大变化，包括进食。因此，调节预编程的猎物捕捉运动链的能力对于在新环境中保持性能可能是必不可少的。蝾螈在这方面特别感兴趣，因为它们表现出多阶段的生活方式，其中成年人在水生和陆生阶段之间季节性变化。例如，阿尔卑斯蝾螈只有在陆地阶段才能使用舌头在陆地上觅食，但如果在陆地阶段浸入水中，仍然可以吸食。在水生阶段，陆上觅食总是需要用下颚抓住猎物。在这里，我们表明，这种摄食行为的季节性变化也存在于陆地阶段较短的物种中，即光滑的 Lissotriton vulgaris。当动物在水生阶段从水生攻击变为陆生攻击时，行为变异性会增加，但猎物捕获运动似乎在整个喂养模式中普遍协调良好。只有陆生阶段的吸食很少进行，而且显得不协调。我们的结果表明，蝾螈在捕食行为方面表现出高度的季节性灵活性。吸食和陆生进食的运动模式之间的相似性表明，只有对祖先的相对微妙的神经运动调整，