Long-term changes in food availability mediate the effects of temperature on growth, development and survival in striped marsh frog larvae: implications for captive breeding programmes.

Stephanie K Courtney Jones,Phillip G Byrne,Adam J Munn,Trent D Penman

doi:10.1093/conphys/cov029

Stephanie K Courtney Jones, Phillip G Byrne + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cov029

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Abstract

Food availability and temperature are known to trigger phenotypic change, but the interactive effects between these factors are only beginning to be considered. The aim of this study was to examine the independent and interactive effects of long-term stochastic food availability and water temperature on larval survivorship, growth and development of the striped marsh frog, Limnodynastes peronii. Larval L. peronii were reared in conditions of either constant or stochastic food availability and in water at three different temperatures (18, 22 and 26°C), and effects on survival, growth and development were quantified. Over the experimental period, larval growth rate was highest and survivorship lowest at the warmest temperature. However, changes in food availability mediated the effects of temperature, with slower larval growth and higher survivorship in stochastic food availability treatments. Tadpoles in the stochastic food availability treatments did not reach metamorphosis during the experimental period, suggesting that developmental stasis may have been induced by food restriction. Overall, these results demonstrate that changes in food availability alter the effects of water temperature on survival, growth and development. From an applied perspective, understanding how environmental factors interact to cause phenotypic change may assist with amphibian conservation by improving the number of tadpoles generated in captive breeding programmes.

Highlights

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to varying abiotic and biotic environmental factors (Miner et al, 2005)
Changes in food availability mediated the effects of temperature, with slower larval growth and higher survivorship in stochastic food availability treatments
These results demonstrate that changes in food availability alter the effects of water temperature on survival, growth and development

Summary

Introduction

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to varying abiotic and biotic environmental factors (Miner et al, 2005). When faced with dynamic environmental conditions, some organisms can readily respond by changing phenotypes, allowing for a range of optimal phenotypes to be produced in response to multiple environments. One environmental factor known to trigger plastic responses across a variety of taxa is food availability (see Monaghan, 2008; Munn et al, 2010; Enriquez-Urzelai et al, 2013; Rosen et al, 2014). Empirical studies suggest that changes in food availability have long-term consequences for various lifehistory traits due to a reduction in the amount of energy that can be allocated to somatic growth (Yoneda and Wright, 2005; Inatsuchi et al, 2010; Enriquez-Urzelai et al, 2013)

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