We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
EFFECTS OF WATER TEMPERATURE ON BREEDING PHENOLOGY, GROWTH, AND METAMORPHOSIS OF FOOTHILL YELLOW-LEGGED FROGS (RANA BOYLII): A CASE STUDY OF THE REGULATED MAINSTEM AND UNREGULATED TRIBUTARIES OF CALIFORNIA’S TRINITY RIVER.
- Authors
Wheeler, C. A.; Bettaso, J. B.; Ashton, D. T.; Welsh, H. H.
- Abstract
Many riverine organisms are well adapted to seasonally dynamic environments, but extreme changes in flow and thermal regimes can threaten sustainability of their populations in regulated rivers. Altered thermal regimes may limit recruitment to populations by shifting the timing of breeding activities and affecting the growth and development of early life stages. Stream-dwelling anurans such as the foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii) in the Trinity River of northern California are model subjects for examining associations between water temperature and the timing of oviposition, hatching, and metamorphosis, and body condition and size of tadpoles and metamorphs. Breeding activity, hatching success, and metamorphosis occurred later, and metamorphs were smaller and leaner along the regulated and colder mainstem relative to six unregulated tributaries of the Trinity River. Persistently depressed summer water temperatures appear to play a seminal role in inhibited tadpole growth on the regulated mainstem and may be a causative factor in the pronounced decline of this population. Environmental flow assessments should account for the influence of the thermal regime on the development of vulnerable embryonic and larval life stages to improve outcomes for declining amphibian populations.
- Subjects
WATER temperature &; the environment; FOOTHILL yellow-legged frog; ANIMAL breeding research; STREAMFLOW; ECOSYSTEM dynamics; RIVERS
- Publication
River Research & Applications, 2015, Vol 31, Issue 10, p1276
- ISSN
1535-1459
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/rra.2820