Presentation Details
| Frog in Flux: How Climate Shapes the Túngara Frog Morphology Alissa P.Murphy1, Michael J.Ryan1, 2. 1The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.2Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama, Panama |
Abstract
An increasingly variable environment has the potential to affect population structure and individual growth rates across taxa. Body condition can influence survival, reproductive success, and mate choice in many species. Understanding long-term morphological trends will provide insight into how local populations respond to environmental changes. We investigated temporal changes in morphology of the túngara frog (Engystomops pustulosus) in relation to climatic variation in Gamboa, Panama from 2001-2018. We tested whether annual changes in snout-vent length (SVL) and mass in males and females changed in relation to multiple climate variables, including precipitation, temperature, humidity, evapotranspiration, and water balance. High resolution environmental data were used from the Physical Monitoring Program of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Autoridad de Canal de Panamá. Preliminary analyses indicate that several climate variables are correlated with interannual variation in body size, suggesting that the development of tropical frogs plastically responds to climatic variations on a relatively short time scale.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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