Local environmental conditions affecting anuran tadpoles' microhabitat choice and morphological adaptation

Author:

Marques N. C. S.ORCID,Rattis L.,Nomura F.

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the environmental variables that best explained tadpole occurrence, as well as associations between environmental variables and the morphological traits of tadpoles. We modelled the occurrence of tadpoles to evaluate the significance of trait–environment relationships by sampling in 86 ponds, measuring a set of environmental descriptors of these ponds, determining the tadpoles’ external-morphology changes and using a generalised linear mixed model approach. The best fitting model predicting tadpole occurrence included all the environmental variables measured (pond dimensions, pond margin type, pond bottom substrate, vegetation type inside the pond, vegetation type in the pond margins, landscape descriptors) and seven morphology–environment interactions. Tadpoles are capable of fine-tuning their morphology according to the environmental traits of the pond and land use changes around the pond. Vegetation heterogeneity of ponds interacts with tadpole morphology primarily on tail size and deviations in the mean position of the eye, nostril and mouth. Moreover, there are increases in body size and tail length in smaller ponds, as well as in ponds surrounded vegetation changes from forest to pasture or short crops. Changes in environmental variables as a result of land use change can affect the dispersion of adult frogs and, consequently, the occurrence of and morphological variations in tadpoles. Local environmental variables play important roles driving tadpoles’ microhabitat choice; once tadpoles cannot select the site of their developmental, they need to compensate for any mismatching by induced morphological adaptations.

Publisher

CSIRO Publishing

Subject

Ecology,Aquatic Science,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics,Oceanography

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3