Author:
Altamirano-Benavides Marco A.,Woolrich-Piña Guillermo A.
Abstract
Ectothermic inhabitants of tropical forests are subjected to constant environmental temperatures, which determine their passive thermoregulatory strategies. We observe these trends during the summer of 2017, in the anurans Dendropsophus bifurcus, Rhinella marina, and Scinax ruber, in a tropical rainforest from the Upper Amazon Basin of Ecuador. D. bifurcus and S. ruber showed a tendency to tigmothermy, whereas R. marina presented tendencies towards heliothermy. Body temperatures (Tbs) did not differ between D. bifurcus and R. marina, but S. ruber presented a lower Tb. Our results suggest that thermal environment is influencing different thermoregulatory strategies as tigmothermy and heliothermy of frogs and toads distributed in tropical environments at low elevation.
Publisher
Universidad Central del Ecuador
Reference44 articles.
1. Acevedo, A. A., Lampo M., y Cipriani R. (2016). The cane or marine toad, Rhinella marina (Anura, Bufonidae): two genetically and morphologically distinct species. Zootaxa 4103: 574-586. http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4103.6.7
2. Adolph, S. C., y Porter W. P. (1993). Temperature, activity, and lizard life histories. The American Naturalist 142: 273-295. https://doi.org/10.1086/285538
3. Almendáriz, A. (1987). Contribución al conocimiento de la herpetofauna centroriental Ecuatoriana. Politécnica 4: 77-133.
4. Alveal-Riquelme, N. F. (2015). Relaciones entre la fisiología térmica y las características bioclimáticas de Rhinella spinulosa (Anura: Bufonidae) en Chile a través del enlace mecanicista de nicho térmico. Unpublished Master in Science Dissertation. Universidad de Concepción, Chile.
5. Andrews, R. M. (1998). Geographic variation in field body temperature of Sceloporus lizards. Journal of Thermal Biology 23: 329-334. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4565(98)00018-7