phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at o:1688 DOI 10.7554/eLife.80483 Contrasting parental roles shape sex differences in poison frog space use but not navigational performance Sex differences in vertebrate spatial abilities are typically interpreted under the adaptive specialization hypothesis, which posits that male reproductive success is linked to larger home ranges and better navigational skills. The androgen spillover hypothesis counters that enhanced male spatial performance may be a byproduct of higher androgen levels. Animal groups that include species where females are expected to outperform males based on life-history traits are key for disentangling these hypotheses. We investigated the association between sex differences in reproductive strategies, spatial behavior, and androgen levels in three species of poison frogs. We tracked individuals in natural environments to show that contrasting parental sex roles shape sex differences in space use, where the sex performing parental duties shows wider-ranging movements. We then translocated frogs from their home areas to test their navigational performance and found that the caring sex outperformed the non-caring sex only in one out of three species. In addition, males across species displayed more explorative behavior than females and androgen levels correlated with explorative behavior and homing accuracy. Overall, we reveal that poison frog reproductive strategies shape movement patterns but not necessarily navigational performance. Together this work suggests that prevailing adaptive hypotheses provide an incomplete explanation of sex differences in spatial abilities. eng Animals; Male; Female; Sex Characteristics; Poisons; Androgens; Anura; Spatial Navigation 2023-06-07T08:20:29.038Z LOMv1.0 Author BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Pašukonis;Andrius; FN:Andrius Pašukonis X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5742-8222 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:O'Connell;Lauren A.; FN:Lauren A. O'Connell X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2706-4077 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Coloma;Luis A.; FN:Luis A. Coloma END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Rodríguez;Camilo; FN:Camilo Rodríguez X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9748-1773 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Ringler;Eva; FN:Eva Ringler X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3273-6568 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Marcillo-Lara;Alejandro; FN:Alejandro Marcillo-Lara END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Roland;Alexandre B.; FN:Alexandre B. Roland X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9463-9838 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Rojas;Bibiana; FN:Bibiana Rojas X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4530-4919 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Shaykevich;Daniel A.; FN:Daniel A. Shaykevich X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3850-0986 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Loretto;Matthias-Claudio; FN:Matthias-Claudio Loretto X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1940-3470 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Serrano-Rojas;Shirley Jennifer; FN:Shirley Jennifer Serrano-Rojas X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6811-8265 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Fischer;Marie-Therese; FN:Marie-Therese Fischer X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6693-8662 END:VCARD https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/scheme https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/text Textdokument Text LOMv1.0 yes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 application/pdf 1071933 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:1688 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:1688/thumbnail LOMv1.0 discipline