The influence of visual and tactile stimulation on growth and metamorphosis in anuran larvae

Rot, Irena; Denver, Robert J.; Wassersug, Richard J.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2435.2005.01051.x

Cited by 32 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Regardless of the mechanism, the results from these two studies highlight that environmental conditions influence both somatic and reproductive growth and development, apparently in a sex-specific manner. In addition, our finding that animals housed together, developed and grew faster than those housed individually are consistent with recent studies showing that tadpoles experiencing tactile, chemical, and visual stimuli from other tadpoles tend to develop and grow more rapidly than those reared in isolation (Rot-Nikcevic et al, 2005.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Tradeoffs between somatic and gonadal investments during development in the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis)

McCoy

Amick

et al. 2007

J. Exp. Zool.

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Tradeoffs between time to and size at metamorphosis occur in many organisms with complex life histories. The ability to accelerate metamorphosis can increase survival to the next life stage, but the resulting smaller size at metamorphosis is often associated with lower post-metamorphic survival or reduced fecundity of adults. Reduced fecundity is thought to be because of reduced energy reserves, longer time to maturity, or reduced capacity to carry eggs or compete for mates. This pattern could also be explained by a shift in allocation to somatic growth that further retards the growth or development of reproductive tissues. The main goal of this study was to determine if the relationship between growth and development of somatic and gonadal tissues depends on environmental conditions. We address this question through two experiments in which we quantify the development and growth of the body and gonads of Xenopus laevis reared in different resource environments. First, tadpoles were reared communally and development and growth were evaluated over time. Restricted food reduced somatic and gonadal growth rate, but did not affect the developmental rate of either tissue type. Second, tadpoles were reared individually and evaluated at metamorphosis. Restricted food reduced somatic development and growth, but only influenced size, and not developmental stage of testes at metamorphosis. This work demonstrates that environmental conditions influence tradeoffs between growth and development of somatic and gonadal tissues, apparently in a sex-specific manner. These tradeoffs may contribute to phenotypic correlations between small size and reduced fitness.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Tradeoffs between somatic and gonadal investments during development in the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis)

McCoy

Amick

et al. 2007

J. Exp. Zool.

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“…In addition, they were able to reverse growth inhibition by treating tadpoles with metyrapone, an inhibitor of corticoid synthesis. Recent results suggest that Rana sylvatica tadpoles respond in a similar fashion, with elevated corticosterone at simulated high densities (40 tadpoles/10 L) in the laboratory (Rot-Nikcevic et al 2005). These studies provide strong support for a role of corticosterone in regulating responses to density.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…Previous laboratory studies have demonstrated that high population density (i.e., 10 tadpoles/L) can increase corticosterone levels in tadpoles (Hayes 1997;Glennemeier and Denver 2002b). Consequently, Glennemeier and Denver (2002b) suggested that corticosterone secretion may be the physiological mechanism by which high density reduces growth in larval anurans, and recent work on the sensory cues used by tadpoles has also found support for that hypothesis (Rot-Nikcevic et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Searching for the Physiological Mechanism of Density Dependence: Does Corticosterone Regulate Tadpole Responses to Density?

Belden

Rubbo²,

Wingfield³

et al. 2007

Physiological and Biochemical Zoology

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The University of Chicago Press ABSTRACTDensity-dependent population regulation is important in many natural populations, and in those populations, high population density is a likely stressor. In amphibians, previous laboratory studies with tadpoles suggest that corticosterone, the main glucocorticoid stress hormone, is one of the key regulators of density-dependent growth. To test this relationship in natural settings, we manipulated wood frog (Rana sylvatica) tadpole density at three levels in outdoor mesocosms and used a capture stress protocol to examine the hormonal stress response. In addition, we used the same capture protocol in six natural ponds (three high density and three low density). In the mesocosms, there was an increase in corticosterone levels in tadpoles following 1 h of confinement at weeks 1, 2, and 5. However, while tadpoles maintained at higher densities were smaller after metamorphosis, density did not alter mean levels of corticosterone obtained during confinement, and baseline levels of corticosterone did not differ between the densities. Similarly, in natural ponds, density did not correlate with baseline corticosterone or mean corticosterone levels obtained during confinement. We suggest that the physiological response to density may vary across the range of natural densities and that the role of corticosterone may be limited to periods of extreme high density, such as during pond-drying events.

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“…This suggests that tadpoles can integrate multiple sources of information to generate a phenotypic response to the environment. Tadpoles are known to have adaptive phenotypic responses to a wide range of environmental cues, including pond drying (Denver 1997;Newman 1989), limited food resources (Alford and Harris 1988;Hentschel 1999;Travis 1984), presence of predators (Relyea 2001a;Van Buskirk 2002) or competitors (e.g., Pfennig and Murphy 2002;Relyea 2002), and crowding (Rot-Nikcevic et al 2005, 2006. However, the eVect of multiple cues that may contain diVerent information about the environment on tadpole phenotype is not well understood.…”

Section: Contrasting Coeycients and Exponentsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Conspecific density determines the magnitude and character of predator-induced phenotype

McCoy

2007

Oecologia

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The benefits in survival gained from predator-induced phenotypes often come at a cost to other components of fitness. Therefore, the level of expression of an induced phenotype should mirror the level of risk in the environment. When a predator exhibits a saturating functional response the risk of mortality to a given prey decreases as prey density increases. Therefore, for a given predator threat, investment in defense should be lower in prey at high density relative to those at low density. In this study, I test whether the magnitude of predator-induced morphological plasticity decreases with increasing conspecific density by exposing pine woods tree frog (Hyla femoralis) tadpoles at three different densities to predators (present or absent) in a factorial experiment. Tadpole morphology was not affected by changes in density in the absence of predators. However, predators had a significant, density-dependent effect on tadpole morphology. Specifically, the magnitude of morphological response was graded and larger for animals in the low density (high risk) environment. This study demonstrates that tadpoles can modulate phenotypic plasticity in response to mortality risk as a function of both the density of conspecifics and chemical cues from predators, which suggests that they are able to detect and respond to fine-scale changes in the threat environment. In addition, this study highlights the need for analytical approaches that allow morphological plasticity studies to elucidate allometric relationships in addition to simply quantifying size-corrected traits.

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The influence of visual and tactile stimulation on growth and metamorphosis in anuran larvae

Cited by 32 publications

References 54 publications

Tradeoffs between somatic and gonadal investments during development in the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis)

Tradeoffs between somatic and gonadal investments during development in the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis)

Searching for the Physiological Mechanism of Density Dependence: Does Corticosterone Regulate Tadpole Responses to Density?

Conspecific density determines the magnitude and character of predator-induced phenotype

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