Abstract Lateralization of cognitive functions influences a large number of fitness-related behaviors and shows, in most species, substantial variation in strength and direction. Laboratory works and field data have suggested that this variation is often due to adaptive phenotypic plasticity. Strong lateralization should be favored in some ecological conditions, for example, under high risk of predation. For anuran tadpoles, the presence of cover affects predation risk, with tadpoles being more exposed to predators in environments with reduced cover. We tested the hypothesis that the amount of cover experienced early in life affects lateralization in the edible frog, Pelophylax esculentus, tadpoles. We exposed embryos and larvae to high or low vegetation cover environments. For half of the subjects, the treatment was constant whereas the remaining subjects were switched to the opposite treatment after hatching. In agreement with the theoretical expectation, tadpoles exposed to low vegetation cover for the entire development were more lateralized and showed a stronger alignment in directionality of lateralization compared with tadpoles exposed to high vegetation cover. This indicates a possible role of natural variation in vegetation abundance and developmental plasticity as determinants of between-population and between-individual differences in lateralization. We also found that shifting from high to low vegetation cover treatments and vice versa disrupted lateralization alignment, suggesting that developmental trajectories for this trait are determined at the embryonic stage and need environmental stability to be fully expressed.

中文翻译：

---

植被覆盖诱导蝌蚪侧化的发育可塑性

摘要 认知功能的偏侧化会影响大量与健康相关的行为，并在大多数物种中表现出强度和方向的实质性变化。实验室工作和现场数据表明，这种变化通常是由于适应性表型可塑性造成的。在某些生态条件下，例如在捕食风险高的情况下，应有利于强侧化。对于无尾蝌蚪，覆盖物的存在会影响捕食风险，蝌蚪在覆盖物减少的环境中更容易暴露于捕食者。我们测试了以下假设：生命早期经历的覆盖量会影响可食用青蛙 Pelophylax esculentus 蝌蚪的侧化。我们将胚胎和幼虫暴露在高或低植被覆盖的环境中。对于一半的科目，治疗是恒定的，而其余的受试者在孵化后转为相反的治疗。与理论预期一致，与暴露于高植被覆盖的蝌蚪相比，整个开发过程中暴露于低植被覆盖的蝌蚪更加侧化，并且在侧化方向性方面表现出更强的排列。这表明植被丰度和发育可塑性的自然变化可能作为种群间和个体间侧化差异的决定因素。我们还发现，从高植被覆盖到低植被覆盖处理的转变，反之亦然，会破坏侧向排列，这表明该性状的发育轨迹是在胚胎阶段确定的，需要环境稳定性才能得到充分表达。