Effect of Female Reproduction and Mate Choice on Sexual Size Dimorphism in the Northeast Treefrog Hyla ussuriensis (Anura:Hylidae) in China  

作　　者：Peng LIU Zhiying ZHANG Shuai ZHAO Wenge ZHAO 

机构地区：[1]College of Life Sciences and Technology,Harbin Normal University

出　　处：《Asian Herpetological Research》2012年第4期273-279,共7页亚洲两栖爬行动物研究（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 31172079);the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang, China (Project No. QC2010035);the Aid Program for Science and Technology Innovative Research Team in Higher Educational Institutions of Heilongjiang and Harbin Normal University (KJTD2011-2)

摘　　要：Sexual size dimorphism(SSD) plays a significant role in understanding the evolution of life history and mating behavior. In this study,we analyzed the morphological data from a treefrog,Hyla ussuriensis,in northeastern China and found that there are significant differences between males and females. Females that are larger in body size increase fecundity as the total number of eggs is positively correlated to female body size. Males are smaller in body size due to the mate choice by females based on the size dimorphism index(SVL mean of female divided by that of male) for the population,which may be an evolutionary stable strategy(ESS). SSD can be influenced not only through mate choice,but also reproductive behavior by analyzing the female reproduction output in the field. Our data are consistent with many previous studies,indicating that fecundity selection and sexual selection may be the common cause for sexual dimorphism in this species. Furthermore,there are no significant morphological differences between mated and unmated frogs of both sexes,which suggests that any frog can obtain a breeding chance when it matures. It further indicates that males may not affect female choice except by their snout-vent length(SVL) and body mass. It is,of course,possible that females adopt a mating strategy to mate with males whose SVL and body mass are smaller than paired females. Our research provides unequivocal evidence for effective female choice and information on the evolution of SSD in the production of anuran pairing patterns.Sexual size dimorphism(SSD) plays a significant role in understanding the evolution of life history and mating behavior. In this study,we analyzed the morphological data from a treefrog,Hyla ussuriensis,in northeastern China and found that there are significant differences between males and females. Females that are larger in body size increase fecundity as the total number of eggs is positively correlated to female body size. Males are smaller in body size due to the mate choice by females based on the size dimorphism index(SVL mean of female divided by that of male) for the population,which may be an evolutionary stable strategy(ESS). SSD can be influenced not only through mate choice,but also reproductive behavior by analyzing the female reproduction output in the field. Our data are consistent with many previous studies,indicating that fecundity selection and sexual selection may be the common cause for sexual dimorphism in this species. Furthermore,there are no significant morphological differences between mated and unmated frogs of both sexes,which suggests that any frog can obtain a breeding chance when it matures. It further indicates that males may not affect female choice except by their snout-vent length(SVL) and body mass. It is,of course,possible that females adopt a mating strategy to mate with males whose SVL and body mass are smaller than paired females. Our research provides unequivocal evidence for effective female choice and information on the evolution of SSD in the production of anuran pairing patterns.

关 键 词：Hyla ussuriensis MORPHOLOGY mating pattern fecundity selection sexual selection 

分 类 号：Q958[生物学—动物学]