The Siberian wood frog survives for months underwater without oxygen

Abstract

Few of the amphibian species that occur in the Subarctic and in mountains are adapted to low sub-zero temperatures; most of these species overwinter underwater. It is believed that the distribution of the species that overwinter underwater can be limited by the low oxygen levels in waterbodies covered with ice. We show that the colonisation of the coldest areas of Northern Asia (to 71°N) by the Siberian wood frog (Rana amurensis) was facilitated by a unique adaptation, the ability to survive extreme hypoxia — and probably anoxia — in waterbodies during overwintering. The oxygen content in the overwintering waterbodies that we have studied in different parts of the range of this species fell to 0.2–0.7 mg/L without causing any large-scale mortality among the frogs. In laboratory experiments the R. amurensis survived for up to 97 days in hermetically sealed containers with water that contained less than 0.2 mg/L oxygen at temperatures of 2–3 °C, retaining the ability to respond to external stimuli. An earlier study of a broad range of frog species has shown that very few of them can survive even brief (up to 5–7 days) exposure to oxygen-free water. The revealed adaptation to prolonged extreme hypoxia is the first known case of this kind among amphibians overwintering in water.