Geographic Variation in Organ Size in a Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus)

Abstract

Adaptive evolution is the process by which organisms change their morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics to adapt to different environments during long-term natural selection. Especially, researching variation in organ size can provide important insights into morphological adaptation in amphibians. In this study, we comparatively studied differences in organ sizes (heart, lungs, liver, gallbladder, kidneys, spleen, digestive tract, testes and brain) among five geographical populations of the Asian common toad Duttaphrynus melanostictus. Our results revealed significant variations in the size of these nine specific organs among the populations. Notably, we observed a significant positive correlation between the relative size of the testes and latitude and/or altitude. However, no correlation was found between the relative size of the heart and the length of the digestive tract with altitude across populations, respectively, contradicting Hesse’s rule and the digestion theory. These findings suggest that our study does not provide substantial theoretical support for the adaptive evolution of organ size in this particular toad species, but rather contributes to the understanding of the evolution and adaptations of species’ different environmental conditions. Further research is warranted to delve deeper into the factors influencing organ size in amphibian populations.

Geographical Variation in Body Size in the Asian Common Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus)

“…The Asian common toad is a medium-sized anuran, with the female having a larger body size than males. The toad is widely distributed in southern China where they live in holes in the ground during the day and forage for insects at night [58]. It is a lekking species, where males actively wait for females for mating in pools during the night in breeding season.…”

“…The body mass of each individual was measured using an electronic balance with an accuracy of 0.01 g. Then, we used the vernier caliper to measure snout-vent length (SVL) of each individual with an accuracy of 0.01 mm [58,59]. The measurements and records of each toad were measured twice by two persons for minimizing error.…”