Sexual size dimorphism in anurans: roles of mating system and habitat types

Liao, Wen Bo; Zeng, Yu; Yang, Jian

doi:10.1186/1742-9994-10-65

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…For better survival and reproductive success, male and female animals under different physiological constrains and reproductive investment strategies may develop different adaptive characters in their life history traits to increase their fitness. Even a similar environmental factor may impose different selective pressure that shapes the life history traits between the sexes (Ma et al 2009b;Liao et al 2013). In this study, growth rate was a major factor underlying body size patterns in both sexes of R. sauteri and affected by not only altitudinal temperature gradient but also sex-biased life history traits and environmental factors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Adult body size of frogs may be affected by many factors such as age at sexual maturity, growth rate, length of activity period, longevity, food availability, and predation (Iturra-Cid et al 2010;Oromi et al 2012;Manyak-Davis et al 2013). Also, the tendency of body size variation in male may differ from that in female within species in the frogs Liao et al 2013). Altitudes and latitudes may cause a similar temperature effect on amphibians (Morrison and Hero 2003;Sinsch et al 2010), so it would be necessary to reduce the latitudinal effect in investigating altitudinal effect on body size in amphibians.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Altitudinal variation in body size and age structure of the Sauter’s frog Rana sauteri in Taiwan

Hsu

Hsieh

et al. 2014

Zool. Stud.

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Background: The tendency for organisms to be larger in cooler climates, the so-called Bergmann's rule, has been widely observed in endotherms, but it is debatable in ectothermic anurans. Altitudinal variations in body size, age, and growth rate of the Sauter's frog Rana sauteri were investigated with skeletochronology at six sites along the altitudinal gradients from 330 to 2,320 m in subtropical Taiwan. The aims of this study were to determine whether these life history traits vary with altitude and differ between males and females. Results: The body size of male R. sauteri followed a converse Bergmann's cline; the size decreased with increase in altitude, while no significant altitudinal change was found for females. The size dimorphism was female-biased and became greater at higher altitudes because of the altitudinal decrease in male size. Ages ranged between 1 and 5 years for males and 1 and 6 years for females. There was no significant difference in the age structures between the two sexes, but both sexes had higher average ages at higher-altitude sites. According to von Bertalanffy's model, the growth coefficients decreased with increase in altitude for males but not for females. The annual growth rates were greater for all age classes of females than males, suggesting that growth rate was a major factor underlying body size patterns of both sexes. Conclusions: Growth rate was a major factor underlying body size patterns in both sexes of R. sauteri. It could be affected by not only altitudinal temperature gradient but also sex-biased life history traits and environmental factors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altitudinal variation in body size and age structure of the Sauter’s frog Rana sauteri in Taiwan

Hsu

Hsieh

et al. 2014

Zool. Stud.

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“…Amphibians deposit their eggs on a range of aquatic and terrestrial substrates [49,67,68], and previous studies have shown that sperm morphology can depend on spawning location [11,69]. Byrne et al [11] reveal that spawning location significantly affects the length of sperm heads, but not the length of sperm tails.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of sperm morphology in anurans: insights into the roles of mating system and spawning location

et al. 2014

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BackgroundThe degree of postcopulatory sexual selection, comprising variable degrees of sperm competition and cryptic female choice, is an important evolutionary force to influence sperm form and function. Here we investigated the effects of mating system and spawning location on the evolution of sperm morphology in 67 species of Chinese anurans. We also examined how relative testes size as an indicator of the level of sperm competition affected variation in sperm morphology across a subset of 29 species.ResultsWe found a significant association of mating system and spawning location with sperm morphology. However, when removing the effects of body mass or absolute testes mass for species for which such data were available, this effect became non-significant. Consistent with predictions from sperm competition theory, we found a positive correlation between sperm morphology and relative testes size after taking phylogeny into account.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that sexual selection in Chinese anurans favors longer sperm when the level of sperm competition is high. Pre-copulatory male-male competition and spawning location, on the other hand, do not affect the evolution of sperm morphology after taking body mass and absolute testes mass into account.

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“…The exact source of each mating system description: 1 = field observations, 2 = reference of Liao et al. (), 3 = reference of Zeng et al. ().…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads

Zeng

Lou

Liao

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Natural selection is a major force in the evolution of vertebrate brain size, but the role of sexual selection in brain size evolution remains enigmatic. At least two opposing schools of thought predict a relationship between sexual selection and brain size. Sexual selection should facilitate the evolution of larger brains because better cognitive abilities may aid the competition for mates. However, it may also restrict brain size evolution due to energetic trade‐offs between brain tissue and sexually selected traits. Here, we examined the patterns of selection on brain size and brain anatomy in male anurans (frogs and toads), a group where the strength of sexual selection differs markedly among species, using a phylogenetically controlled generalized least‐squared (PGLS) regression analyses. The analysis revealed that in 43 Chinese anuran species, neither mating system, nor type of courtship, or testes mass was significantly associated with relative brain size. While none of those factors related to the relative size of olfactory nerves, optic tecta, telencephalon, and cerebellum, the olfactory bulbs were relatively larger in monogamous species and those using calls during courtship. Our findings support the mosaic model of brain evolution and suggest that while the investigated aspects of sexual selection do not seem to play a prominent role in the evolution of brain size of anurans, they do impact their brain anatomy.

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Sexual size dimorphism in anurans: roles of mating system and habitat types

Cited by 17 publications

References 30 publications

Altitudinal variation in body size and age structure of the Sauter’s frog Rana sauteri in Taiwan

Altitudinal variation in body size and age structure of the Sauter’s frog Rana sauteri in Taiwan

Evolution of sperm morphology in anurans: insights into the roles of mating system and spawning location

Sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads

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