Description and shaping factors of diet and feeding ecology of neotropical tadpoles: A case study and a comprehensive review

Abstract

AbstractTadpoles are important components of many aquatic food webs as they influence populations at other trophic levels and, ultimately, energy transfer between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. What tadpoles consume is a key factor to their ecological functions. Neotropical anuran assemblages include many species with a larval stage, however, the diets of neotropical tadpoles are relatively poorly known. We performed a systematic review on the available literature on in situ studies of neotropical tadpole diets and found out that most studies are descriptive and temporally restricted, failing to consider seasonal variations. Studies frequently also fail to consider possible ontogenetic dietary variations or tadpoles' capacity to select food based on what is available to them in their habitats. We contributed to this topic by investigating seasonal variations and comparing the diets of two developmental stages of Scinax curicica tadpoles. Tadpole diet varied between dry and rainy seasons, but not between the studied developmental stages. These results, together with published studies, suggest that multiple ecological/physiological factors are likely to influence tadpole food intake and should not be overlooked. Studies on neotropical tadpole feeding ecology, digestion capacity, physiological effects of different diets and microbiome versus diet interactions are highly desirable but largely unexplored. Such studies are likely to add valuable information to understand tadpole roles in aquatic food webs, their growth and development performance resulting from food acquisition and assimilation, and consequently their effects on other species in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.