Maternal investment decreases under stressful environments in 11 plateau brown frog (<i>Rana kukunoris</i>) populations

Yu, Tong Lei; Xu, Yongfu; Busam, Michael; Deng, Yao Hui

doi:10.1080/03949370.2017.1336117

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Although we detected no sex differences in the relationship between immune response and age, they were expectable. On the one hand, the investment of female anurans in reproduction is particularly high (Yu et al, 2017), so the energy trade-off, likely more intense in older, energy-limited individuals (Navarro & Boveris, 2007; Green, Galluzzi & Kroemer, 2011), could be greater in females. Nonetheless, in agreement with our results, reproductive investment of Hyla intermedia female frogs shows no trade-off with age (Cadeddu & Castellano, 2012), and Rana temporaria female frogs do not trade off reproductive investment and growth (Lardner & Loman, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early swelling response to phytohemagglutinin is lower in older toads

Zamora‐Camacho

Comas

2018

PeerJ

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The effects of age on performance of life-history traits are diverse, but a common outcome is senescence, an irreversible deterioration of physical and physiological capabilities of older individuals. Immune response is potentially bound to senescence. However, little is known about immune response ageing in amphibians. In this work, we test the hypothesis that amphibian early immune response is reduced in older individuals. To this end, we captured adult natterjack toads (Epidalea calamita) and inoculated them with phytohemagglutinin, an innocuous protein that triggers a skin-swelling immune response whose magnitude is directly proportional to the ability of the individual to mount an immune response. We measured early swelling immune response (corresponding to an innate-response stage) hourly, for six hours, and we calculated the area under the curve (AUC) for each individual’s time series, as a measure of immune response magnitude incorporating time. We estimated toad age by means of phalanx skeletochronology. Swelling and AUC decreased with age. Therefore, in accordance with our predictions, early immune response seems subject to senescence in these toads. Reduced ability to get over infections due to senescence of immune respose might be—together with a worse functioning of other organs and systems—among the causes of lower survival of older specimens.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early swelling response to phytohemagglutinin is lower in older toads

Zamora‐Camacho

Comas

2018

PeerJ

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“…For capital breeding anurans, in adult females primarily exploit fat bodies to provide energy for the developing gonads (Jørgensen et al, 1979;Jönsson et al, 2009). Here, female R. kukunoris finish their main follicular growth before hibernation, and their gonad weight increases before overwintering (Chen et al, 2013), whereas adult males utilize the fat bodies to conduct breeding activities in spring Yu et al, 2016;Yu et al, 2018). Thus, males may have more energy reserves prior to breeding than females.…”

Section: Sexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpopulation variation in prebreeding energy reserves of plateau brown frog (Rana kukunoris)

Cheng,

Shi,

et al. 2023

Acta Herpetol.

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The energy storage plays a prominent part in the life histories of many animals inhabiting cold harsh environment, thus anuran amphibians rely on larger residual energy stores from post-hibernation to cope with unfavourable weather conditions before breeding. As the habitat conditions often change in different locations, selective pressure for energy storage could also vary. However, we still have limited knowledge on whether anurans living under different environmental backgrounds would adopt suitable strategies to cope with energy demands during reproduction. Here, we examined patterns of energy storage in spring (after hibernation and before reproduction) in seven plateau brown frog (Rana kukunoris) populations with different climatic conditions in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. After removing the effects of age and body size, liver weights of both sexes and fat body weights in males were negatively correlated with temperature, suggesting that these reserves were critical for this anuran to survive through harsh and extended dormancy period under uncertain environmental conditions. Additionally, reproductive investment in both sexes could partly explain the increase in post-hibernation energy stores with decreasing temperature. Males had relatively heavier liver and fat body weights than females, indicating that males store more energy reserves for breeding activity compared with females. Therefore, we suggest that both the variation of environmental conditions and sexual differentiation of reproductive roles play a prominent role in shaping the energy allocation and reserve patterns in the dormancy and breeding of amphibian species.

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