Abstract
Abstract A measure of predictability exists in geographic variation in some of the life history traits of the green frog, Lithobates clamitans. A long breeding and larval transformation season and a small transformation body size of this species in the southern United States give way to opposite patterns farther north. Overwintering of tadpoles occurs northward in its range and eventually typifies many northern populations. Our examination of larval growth and transformation in the northern green frog, L. clamitans melanota, corroborated findings of intermediacy in duration of transformation season (May–August) and mean transformation body size (30 mm) of mid-Atlantic populations. The latter finding may be obscured by metamorphoslings (32 mm) during May–June, presumed to have overwintered and therefore larger than those that transformed in August (29 mm) of the same year they hatched. It remains unknown how often two cohorts emerge within or between years in Pennsylvania. The potential for a warming climate to predispose this species to more frequent within-year transformation of smaller individuals akin to present-day southerly populations should be investigated.
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