Landscape influences the morphology of male common toads (Bufo bufo)

Guillot, Héloïse; Boissinot, Alexandre; Angelier, Frédéric; Lourdais, Olivier; Bonnet, Xavier; Brischoux, François

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2016.08.032

Cited by 21 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…That study explored the effects of different environments on FA, as a result, statistical comparisons between forelimbs and hindlimbs were not conducted. However, data presented in that article are sufficient to indicate that across three different environments (forest, hedgerow, farmland) FA was considerably higher in the forelimbs than in the hindlimbs ( FA Forearm > FA Tibia ), mirroring the findings of our current study (Guillot et al, ; Figure 2). Thus, while patterns of FA have long been perceived as largely random, our findings, supported by those of Gummer & Brigham () and Guillot et al (), provide further evidence that the selective forces that act on directional symmetry may also be acting on FA to decrease variation between locomotor appendages.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Thus, while patterns of FA have long been perceived as largely Paired t-tests found significant differences between humeral and femoral FA for two species: Anaxyrus americanus and Lithobates clamitans. Significant results indicated: * <0.05; ** <0.01 random, our findings, supported by those of Gummer & Brigham (1995) and Guillot et al (2016), provide further evidence that the selective forces that act on directional symmetry may also be acting on FA to decrease variation between locomotor appendages.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

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Patterns of fluctuating asymmetry in the limbs of anurans

Didde

Rivera

2019

Journal of Morphology

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It has been hypothesized that fluctuating asymmetry (FA) may provide an indication of the functional importance of structures within an organism, with structures that more strongly impact fitness being more symmetric. Based on this idea, we predicted that for tetrapods in which the forelimbs and hindlimbs play an unequal role in locomotion, the less functionally important limb set should display higher levels of FA. We conducted a multispecies test of this hypothesis in anurans (frogs and toads), whose saltatory locomotor mode is powered by the hindlimbs. We also tested whether FA in the forelimbs, which play a more important role during landing, differed between families that differ in the degree of forelimb use in locomotion (Bufonidae vs. Ranidae). We calculated FA from the lengths of humeri and femora measured from disarticulated skeletal specimens of four anuran taxa (Bufonidae: Anaxyrus americanus, Rhinella marina; Ranidae: Lithobates catesbeianus, Lithobates clamitans). Our findings were consistent with the hypothesis that natural selection for increased locomotor performance may influence patterns of FA seen in vertebrate limbs, with all species displaying lower mean FA in the hindlimbs. More subtle functional roles between the forelimbs of bufonids and ranids, however, did not elicit different levels of FA.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

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Patterns of fluctuating asymmetry in the limbs of anurans

Didde

Rivera

2019

Journal of Morphology

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“…Our study joins a growing body of work that refutes the long‐held idea that patterns of fluctuating asymmetry are largely random (Gummer and Brigham 1995; Guillot et al. 2016; Didde and Rivera 2019). As detailed by Didde and Rivera (2019), for natural selection to be driving these patterns, several conditions must be met.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Patterns of fluctuating asymmetry in the limbs of freshwater turtles: Are more functionally important limbs more symmetrical?

Rivera

Neely

2020

Evolution

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Understanding how selective forces influence patterns of symmetry remains an active area of research in evolutionary biology. One hypothesis, which has received relatively little attention, suggests that the functional importance of morphological characters may influence patterns of symmetry. Specifically, it posits that for structures that display bilateral symmetry, those with greater functional importance should display lower levels of asymmetry. The aim of this study was to examine the patterns of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) present in the limb bones of freshwater turtles in the family Emydidae. Aquatic emydid turtles of the subfamily Deirochelyinae employ a hindlimb‐dominant swimming style, suggesting that hindlimbs should display lower levels of FA. Consistent with the morpho‐functional hypothesis of symmetry, we found a strong, clade‐wise pattern of humeral‐biased FA in aquatic Deirochelyinae. In contrast, some emydids of the subfamily Emydinae possess more terrestrial tendencies. As terrestrial locomotion places more equal importance on fore‐ and hindlimbs, we predicted that such behaviors may minimize differences in FA. No clade‐wise pattern was detected in the subfamily Emydinae. We also detected a phylogenetic signal in FA within the femur and discovered that FA has evolved at vastly different rates between the fore‐ and hindlimbs.

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“…Using QGIS 2.4 (Quantum GIS Development Team 2014) and the orthophotomaps (provided by Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography; http://www. geoportal.gov.pl/), we assessed the land cover classification of each site studied within a 500 m buffer area surrounding central point of road mortality, taking into account the average range of space used by species traits (Guillot et al 2016;Salazar et al 2016; see Online Resource for details). Thus, we classified each site as follows: 1-suburban site (Ochla), constituted estate of detached houses near Zielona Góra city; 2-suburban site (Maślice), district in the suburban part of Wrocław city comprised artificial pond in park surrounded by estate of detached houses; 3-forest site (Łagów), forest area placed near Łagowskie and Ciche Lakes; and 4-rural site (Brody), rural area near Nabłoto fish ponds ( Fig.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Road-killed toads as a non-invasive source to study age structure of spring migrating population

et al. 2018

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Development of road system causes worldwide barriers to wildlife movement and leads to mass road mortality which is a serious threat to the biodiversity, especially globally endangered amphibians. Animal carcasses, however, constitute an important noninvasive material for further research including species life history traits, but there is little known whether the road-killed animals are a representative sample of entire population. The aim of our research was to compare the age structures between road-killed and live individuals which crossed the road successfully during the breeding migration. As a model species, we used the common toad Bufo bufo which is a main amphibian traffic victim in Europe. We collected toe clips of dead and live toads during their breeding migration in four sampling sites located in the lowlands of western Poland. Phalanges were used for age determination by the skeletochronology. There were no significant differences in age distribution between live and dead individuals of the same sex in all populations studied. In compared groups, medians and mean ages were the same or differed marginally and confidence intervals for the mean age almost completely overlapped. Our results suggest that toads are killed on roads regardless of individual age, thus skeletochronological analysis of dead individuals is useful to study age structure of a live population. Our approach allows to avoid mutilation of amphibians and can be used to increase the knowledge of age structure of a given species living near the road as well as to study long-term road effect on amphibian demography. However, further comparative research on different species is required.

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Landscape influences the morphology of male common toads (Bufo bufo)

Cited by 21 publications

References 32 publications

Patterns of fluctuating asymmetry in the limbs of anurans

Patterns of fluctuating asymmetry in the limbs of anurans

Patterns of fluctuating asymmetry in the limbs of freshwater turtles: Are more functionally important limbs more symmetrical?

Road-killed toads as a non-invasive source to study age structure of spring migrating population

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