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- Title
Seasonal variation and ontogenetic change in the diet of a population of Bufo gargarizans from the farmland, Sichuan, China.
- Authors
Tong Lei Yu; Yan Shu Gu; Juan Du; Xin Lu
- Abstract
We examined the diet of Bufo gargarizans over its entire activity period (March to early November, 2006) based on the stomach contents of 109 specimens. As the result, it showed consumption of prey types no significant differences in seasonal variation, male and female, ontogenetic change, but there was an evident difference in prey number. The lowest average prey number was observed in July and August suggesting that temperature might be the most important limiting factor for feeding activity. Coleoptera-adults and Myriapoda were the most abundant prey items in the diet of the studied toads. Some of the prey items become abundant in certain parts of the year (e.g. Orthoptera, Lepidoptera larvae, Isopoda). During the period of study an important seasonal change was observed in feeding intensity and in the type of consumed prey. Moreover, the average length of prey items was positively correlated with SVL, proving that toads preferred to choose larger preys as they grew. These results suggest that ontogenetic diet change should be considered when the structure of an anuran community is investigated using food niche analysis. On the other hand, diet composition of the 34 toads in September suggests that prey taxa from the stomach contents are weakly correlated with prey availability. This result indicates that toads might feed opportunistically depending on encounter rates with preys.
- Subjects
SICHUAN Sheng (China); CHINA; TOAD behavior; PREDATION; ANIMAL feeding; BEETLES; MYRIAPODA; TEMPERATURE; SEASONAL effects on wildlife
- Publication
Biharean Biologist, 2009, Vol 3, Issue 2, p99
- ISSN
1843-5637
- Publication type
Article