Is body size of the water frog Rana esculenta complex responding to climate change?

Die Naturwissenschaften
Piotr TryjanowskiL Berger

Abstract

Recent studies on climate responses in ectothermic (cold-blooded) vertebrates have been few in number and focussed on phenology rather than morphology. According to Bergmann's rule, endothermic (warm-blooded) vertebrates from cooler climates tend to be larger than congeners from warmer regions. Although amphibians are ectothermic vertebrates, weather and climatic conditions may also impact on their morphology, and thereby affect their survival rates and population dynamics. In this paper, we show, in a unique long-term study during the period 1963-2003 in an agricultural landscape in western Poland, that the body length of two water frog parental species (males of both Rana ridibunda and R. lessonae) increased significantly. However, their hybridogenetic hybrid R. esculenta did not show similar changes. A significant relationship with a large-scale climatic factor, the winter North Atlantic Oscillation index, was found positive for R. ridibunda males and R. lessonae females, and negative for R. esculenta females. Our findings, the first for amphibians, are consistent with other studies reporting that recent climate change has affected the morphology of animals. However, we also show that changes in amphibian phenotype linked to...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 13, 2010·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Yoram Yom-Tov, Eli Geffen
Jan 15, 2014·Zoological Science·Mamdouh S A Akef
Mar 20, 2014·The American Naturalist·Elizabeth Adkins-Regan, Hudson K Reeve
May 30, 2008·Growth Hormone & IGF Research : Official Journal of the Growth Hormone Research Society and the International IGF Research Society·Phillip V Gordon, Marek Marcinkiewicz
Jun 5, 2013·Integrative Zoology·Yiming LiJason R Rohr
Jan 24, 2014·Evolutionary Applications·Mark C UrbanNicole A Freidenfelds
Nov 7, 2019·Science China. Life Sciences·Jiaying LiXiangzhen Li
Sep 8, 2021·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Stanisław BuryAleksandra Kolanek
Sep 21, 2021·Global Change Biology·Patrick D MoldowanNjal Rollinson

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