Tadpoles in Complex Environments: How Temperature, Desiccation Risk, and Predators Shape Larval Plasticity in a Tropical Frog
Organisms have often evolved developmental plasticity to cope with environmental heterogeneity, but natural systems are often quite complex and organisms have to assess and respond to variation in multiple environmental factors simultaneously, which at times can elicit opposing or synergistic phenot...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/411297 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/411297 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/105021234953 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Interactions Amphibian larvae Biotic and non-biotic factors Developmental plasticity |
| Sumario: | Organisms have often evolved developmental plasticity to cope with environmental heterogeneity, but natural systems are often quite complex and organisms have to assess and respond to variation in multiple environmental factors simultaneously, which at times can elicit opposing or synergistic phenotypic responses. Amphibian larvae can often respond to temperature, desiccation risk, and predation risk altering their behaviour, shape, coloration, physiology or life histories. However, our understanding of how species respond to fluctuations in multiple factors in complex environments is limited and primarily restricted to temperate species. Leptodactylus fuscus is a tropical anuran that constructs foam nests in excavated subterranean chambers, where embryos develop, and nest-dwelling larvae can enter developmental arrest until the chambers are flooded and tadpoles are washed off to a neighbouring pond. Its breeding ponds are highly dynamic, and to understand how its larvae respond to multiple factors in complex environments, we experimentally exposed them to variations in temperature, water level, and predation cues. We found that tadpoles did not modulate developmental rates in response to any of the factors studied. At high temperatures, larvae achieved greater body mass, larger size, increased fat bodies, and improved locomotor performance. In contrast, reduced water level negatively affected body mass, size, and snout length at metamorphosis. Presence of predation cues had the least effect on tadpoles, only showing an antagonistic interaction with temperature on locomotor performance. Of all three ecological factors, temperature had the greatest (and positive) impact on growth, and the effects of each factor were predominantly additive or antagonistic. The reproductive mode of L. fuscus may have relaxed selection for plasticity in developmental rate, allowing its canalization. However, the limited capacity for developmental rate plasticity in response to temperature or desiccation risk could limit the species' ability to respond to future climate change scenarios of increased temperature and reduced hydroperiod. Our results highlight the need to continue studying phenotypic plasticity in complex, more realistic scenarios, and expand the array of species studied to include tropical species and species with different reproductive modes. |
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