Variations in age, size at maturity and gestation duration among two neighbouring populations of the alpine salamander (<i>Salamandra lanzai</i>)

Miaud, Claude; Andreone, Franco; Ribéron, Alexandre; Michelis, Sara De; Clima, Valentina; Castanet, J.; Francillon‐Vieillot, H.; Guyetant, R.

doi:10.1017/s0952836901000760

Cited by 56 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(56 reference statements)

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“…The extra source of nutrients supplied by the mother (matrotrophy) enables the developing embryos to complete metamorphosis within the uterus resulting in the birth of terrestrial juveniles after three or four years of gestation (depending on altitude and environmental conditions). A similar pattern of reproduction is thought to occur in S. lanzai, the other species of Alpine salamander (Miaud et al, 2001). …”

Section: Lyciasalamandrasupporting

confidence: 53%

Evolution of Viviparity in Salamanders (Amphibia, Caudata)

Buckley

2012

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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Reproductive modes in salamanders (Amphibia, Caudata) are highly diverse. Viviparity, for instance, implies the retention of the developing embryos inside the females until the end of the gestation, at which point they deliver fully developed terrestrial juveniles. From an ecological point of view, the evolution of viviparity is highly significant, since it implies the semi‐independence of water for an amphibian. Nevertheless, viviparity is not very common among salamander. It has independently evolved only in a few species, all included within the family Salamandridae. Furthermore, the characteristics of viviparous strategies are different among species, although they all share some commonalities. The detailed study of these particular and common features in a phylogenetic context will reveal the genetic, physiological, developmental, morphological and historic factors that have triggered the evolution of this peculiar mode of reproduction in only one lineage among all the species of salamanders. Key Concepts: Viviparity entails the complete development of the progeny within the mother's genital tract, together with the maternal provisioning of nutrients to the embryos. Since development occurs within the females, viviparity in amphibians implies that the aquatic phase of the standard amphibian life cycle is obviated in viviparous species. Viviparity has independently evolved only in a few species of salamanders.

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Section: Lyciasalamandrasupporting

confidence: 53%

Evolution of Viviparity in Salamanders (Amphibia, Caudata)

Buckley

2012

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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“…In amphibians with biphasic life cycles, confusion exists between Bertalanffy's (1938) equation and the Bertalanffy-Hemelaar (1988) equation (e.g., Miaud et al 1999Miaud et al , 2000Tsiora and KyriakopoulouSklavounou 2002;Kyriakopoulou-Sklavounou et al 2008); the former does not initially include the growth parameter, age at metamorphosis (birth). Confusion also occurs with the exponential function to a value x, exp(x) or e x (i.e., confused as exp x : Miaud et al 2001;Olgun et al 2001). No growth trajectory can be described using this function.…”

Section: Methodological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age, Body Size, and Sexual Dimorphism in Size and Shape in Salamandrella keyserlingii (Caudata: Hynobiidae)

Hasumi

2010

Evol Biol

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In organisms with determinate growth, sexual size dimorphism (SSD) occurs before maturity during the developmental process of growing apart, an ontogenetic perspective on the evolution of SSD. If the direction of SSD (female-larger SSD) is known, patterns of growth can be tested with one-tailed statistical distributions. In indeterminate growing organisms as well, does SSD occur before maturity? If it occurs, whether is females' larger mean body size caused by a difference in age at maturity, age-specific size, divergent growth prior to maturity, or selection on post-maturational growth? How important is biphasic, sexual shape dimorphism (BSSD) for determinants of SSD? Biphasic characteristics are those that differ between adult aquatic-and terrestrial-phase morphs, and shape is size of a characteristic relative to body size. To address those questions, I determined age and body size based on a careful description of a growth trajectory for each sex in Salamandrella keyserlingii, using 555 independent data points from skeletochronological studies. Females reached maturity at 3-4 years of age, a year later than males that reached maturity at 2-3 years of age (mean body size: males = 57.63 mm, females = 61.70 mm; delayed sexual maturity resulted in SSD). However, SSD was highly detected before maturity (SSD index = 0.097), and females after maturity continued to grow and resulted in larger asymptotic size than males. Traits of BSSD were greater in males than in females. These results suggest that when determining SSD the difference in mean adult-body size results from the difference in age-specific size and the female-larger SSD develops to resolve intersexual ontogenetic conflict by allowing small-sized males to swell their whole body during the aquatic phase as much as large-sized females.

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“…To describe growth rates and to compare the rates among frogs among different altitudes, we used von Bertalanffy's model (von Bertalanffy 1938(von Bertalanffy , 1957) with a nonlinear regression procedure: SVL t = SVL max × (1 − e −kt + b ), where SVL t is SVL at age t, SVL max is estimated asymptotic SVL, k is a growth coefficient relating to rate of decline in growth when frogs attain the maximum SVL, and b is constant (Miaud et al 2001;Leclair et al 2005;Lu et al 2006;Ma et al 2009b). The starting point of the growth curve was set at the metamorphosis.…”

Section: Growth Rate Estimationmentioning

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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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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Variations in age, size at maturity and gestation duration among two neighbouring populations of the alpine salamander (Salamandra lanzai)

Cited by 56 publications

References 50 publications

Evolution of Viviparity in Salamanders (Amphibia, Caudata)

Evolution of Viviparity in Salamanders (Amphibia, Caudata)

Age, Body Size, and Sexual Dimorphism in Size and Shape in Salamandrella keyserlingii (Caudata: Hynobiidae)

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

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