Morphological determinants of jumping performance in the Iberian green frog  

作　　者：Gregorio Moreno-Rueda Abelardo Requeinia-Blaimco Francisco J.Zamora-Camacho Mar Comas Guillem Pascual 

机构地区：[1]Departamento de Zoologia,Facultad de Ciencias,Universidad de Granada,Granada,E-18071,Spain [2]Department of Biological Sciences,Dartmouth College,Hanover,NH,03055,USA [3]Galanthus/Ctra.de Juia,46.174,60 Celra,Spain

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2020年第4期417-424,共8页动物学报（英文版）

摘　　要：Predation is one of the main selective forces in nature, frequently selecting potential prey for developing escape strategies. Escape ability is typically influenced by several morphological parameters, such as morphology of the locomotor appendices, muscular capacity, body mass, or fluctuating asymmetry, and may differ between sexes and age classes. In this study, we tested the relationship among these variables and jumping performance in 712 Iberian green frogs Pelophylax perezi from an urban population. The results suggest that the main determinant of jumping capacity was body size (explaining 48% of variance). Larger frogs jumped farther, but jumping performance reached an asymptote for the largest frogs. Once controlled by structural body size, the heaviest frogs jumped shorter distances, suggesting a trade-off between fat storage and jumping performance. Relative hind limb length also determined a small but significant percentage of variance (2.4%) in jumping performance-that is, the longer the hind limbs, the greater the jumping capacity. Juveniles had relatively shorter and less muscular hind limbs than adults (for a given body size), and their jumping performance was poorer. In our study population, the hind limbs of the frogs were very symmetrical, and we found no effect of fluctuating asymmetry on jumping performance. Therefore, our study provides evidence that jumping performance in frogs is not only affected by body size, but also by body mass and hind limb length, and differ between age classes.

关 键 词：body mass fluctuating asymmetry hind limb length hind limb width locomotor performance MORPHOMETRY 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]