Growth and metamorphosis of Bufo gargarizans gargarizans larvae: effects of water volume and food diversity

lei yu; YING XIE; XIN MEI SUN; CHENG LE FENG; JIANG XUE FAN; YU QI LIU; TONG XIAN CHEN; XUE KE MA; BING YAO  WANG; MENG ZHANG

Growth and metamorphosis of Bufo gargarizans gargarizans larvae: effects of water volume and food diversity

2025

An organism has the ability to evolve and produce different phenotypes in order to respond to local environmental conditions, which is a common adaptation strategy in nature. Besides biotic factors, abiotic factors such as the volume of water and the diversity of food in breeding ponds can also play significant roles in the survival and age at metamorphosis in amphibians. This study experimentally examined the plasticity in growth rate, survival rate, larval mass, age, and SVL at metamorphosis for Bufo gargarizans gargarizans. It specifically focused on different combinations of water volume and food diversity. An interaction between water volume and food diversity had no effect on larval growth and development. However, food diversity had a significant impact on the age at metamorphosis, revealing that the presence of two food resources resulted in a shorter larval period and earlier metamorphosis, particularly in larger water volumes. Our findings demonstrated that single tadpoles reared in larger water volumes had a larger body size at metamorphosis compared to those raised in smaller water volumes. Additionally, single tadpoles raised in larger water volumes exhibited higher growth rates and a shorter larval period than those raised in smaller water volumes. We propose that the increased frequency of physical encounters between tadpoles and vessel walls in smaller volumes leads to stress from crowding or psychological factors, which is the primary factor in hindering larval growth and development.

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