Salt tolerance of Bufotes viridis eggs and tadpoles
(2019) In Alytes 37(1-2). p.46-62- Abstract
Most anurans are sensitive to high salinities. The adult European green toad (Bufotes viridis) has however been found to be relatively tolerant. Here we study the effects of constant and shifting salinities on eggs and tadpoles at 0 %, 0.25 %, 0.5 % and 1.0 %. During egg development, survival was significantly poorer at 1.0 % than at lower salinities. The percentage of deformed tadpoles was higher at a constant salinity of 1.0 % than at lower percentages. A constant salinity of 1.0 % also decreased growth rate and increased the total development time of tadpoles. However, this increase in development time resulted in larger toads at the time of metamorphosis, suggesting a fitness compensation. An additional effect of a higher constant... (More)
Most anurans are sensitive to high salinities. The adult European green toad (Bufotes viridis) has however been found to be relatively tolerant. Here we study the effects of constant and shifting salinities on eggs and tadpoles at 0 %, 0.25 %, 0.5 % and 1.0 %. During egg development, survival was significantly poorer at 1.0 % than at lower salinities. The percentage of deformed tadpoles was higher at a constant salinity of 1.0 % than at lower percentages. A constant salinity of 1.0 % also decreased growth rate and increased the total development time of tadpoles. However, this increase in development time resulted in larger toads at the time of metamorphosis, suggesting a fitness compensation. An additional effect of a higher constant salinity was a greatly increased number of deformities in imagos. At 1.0 % nearly half of all toads showed some signs of deformity. There was no effect of salinity, at any concentration, on survival to metamorphosis. A short period of high salinity (shifting salinities), up to the maximum tested 1.0 %, did not negatively influence metamorphosis performance. Family effects on egg salinity tolerance were found and show that there is a potential for quick evolutionary responses to salinity in this species.
(Less)
- author
- Schmidt, Andreas and Loman, Jon LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2019
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Alytes
- volume
- 37
- issue
- 1-2
- pages
- 17 pages
- publisher
- ISSCA
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105040248480
- ISSN
- 0753-4973
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 10960f84-8652-44cc-aabc-97b4fc49ccfa
- date added to LUP
- 2026-09-28 11:32:29
- date last changed
- 2026-10-02 13:29:54
@article{10960f84-8652-44cc-aabc-97b4fc49ccfa,
abstract = {{<p>Most anurans are sensitive to high salinities. The adult European green toad (Bufotes viridis) has however been found to be relatively tolerant. Here we study the effects of constant and shifting salinities on eggs and tadpoles at 0 %, 0.25 %, 0.5 % and 1.0 %. During egg development, survival was significantly poorer at 1.0 % than at lower salinities. The percentage of deformed tadpoles was higher at a constant salinity of 1.0 % than at lower percentages. A constant salinity of 1.0 % also decreased growth rate and increased the total development time of tadpoles. However, this increase in development time resulted in larger toads at the time of metamorphosis, suggesting a fitness compensation. An additional effect of a higher constant salinity was a greatly increased number of deformities in imagos. At 1.0 % nearly half of all toads showed some signs of deformity. There was no effect of salinity, at any concentration, on survival to metamorphosis. A short period of high salinity (shifting salinities), up to the maximum tested 1.0 %, did not negatively influence metamorphosis performance. Family effects on egg salinity tolerance were found and show that there is a potential for quick evolutionary responses to salinity in this species.</p>}},
author = {{Schmidt, Andreas and Loman, Jon}},
issn = {{0753-4973}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1-2}},
pages = {{46--62}},
publisher = {{ISSCA}},
series = {{Alytes}},
title = {{Salt tolerance of Bufotes viridis eggs and tadpoles}},
volume = {{37}},
year = {{2019}},
}