Climate change will alter amphibian‐mediated nutrient pathways: evidence from Rana temporaria tadpoles in experimental ponds

Abstract

Summary With global warming, mean temperatures and brownification of many waterbodies are predicted to increase. This may have unknown consequences on aquatic consumer life histories and nutrient content, consumer‐mediated nutrient recycling, and nutrient transport between water and land. Using a large‐scale experimental pond facility, we altered temperature (ambient/+4 °C) and brownification (clear/humic) in a 2 × 2 factorial design (n = 16 pond sections) to test two aspects of climate change on Rana temporaria tadpole life‐history traits and on tadpole‐mediated nutrient pathways. On day 16 after hatching, we examined tadpole‐mediated nutrient recycling by measuring tadpole nutrient excretion and egestion rates and tadpole body nutrient content. We estimated tadpole growth and development rates from hatching to emergence and measured emergent frog body size and body nutrient content. Brownification increased total pond water nutrient availability and total pond water nitrogen (N) : phosphorous (P) ratios. Warming positively affected tadpole growth and development rates, whereas browning increased tadpole growth rate only under ambient temperatures. Emergent frog body P content decreased with warming, but only in the clear treatments. But despite these variations in body nutrient content, body stoichiometry remained within a relatively narrow stoichiometric range for both emergent frogs (P content: 1.4–1.8%, N content: 11.4–11.8% and carbon [C] content: 46.9–51.3%) and tadpoles (P content: 1.1–1.2%, N content: 10.1–11.7% and C content: 48.0–50.5%). Warming increased tadpole body P content and browning had a positive effect on tadpole body N content and tadpole N excretion rates, probably mediated by the increased pond water total N availability. We conclude that warming and brownification will interact in changing aquatic consumer growth and body nutrient stoichiometry. In addition, warming has the potential to affect emergent frog body nutrient content and may thus affect nutrient transport from water to land. Last, by increasing pond water N availability, brownification appears to intensify consumer P limitation and thus amplify consumer‐meditated N recycling.