Fu Lei, Wang Xiaoyi, Yang Shengnan, Li Chunlin, Hu Junhua
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China.
Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Sep 7;12(18):2328. doi: 10.3390/ani12182328.
The Taihangshan swelled-vented frog (), an endemic species to the Qinling Mountains, central China, has experienced a dramatic population decline over the last few decades. The aim of this work was to quantify morphological variation in across the Qinling Mountains and examine environmental correlates of this variation of morphological traits. We implemented a hierarchical partitioning to estimate the independent contribution of each environmental variable on morphological variations. Temperature seasonality was the greatest contributor in variations of snout-vent length (SVL) and head width, and ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation of the lowest month was the most influential on both thigh length and tibia width. Then, we used generalized additive models to analyze the relationship between each environmental factor and morphological trait variations. Along the increasing of annual mean temperature, SVL decreased firstly and then increased, indicating no support for Bergmann's rule. Furthermore, SVL was negatively correlated with annual precipitation, while positively with temperature seasonality. The mean UV-B of the highest and lowest months was positively and negatively correlated with head width, thigh length and tibia width, respectively. The results of this study help us to understand adaptive potential of this mountain frog species via morphological variations in the light of environmental changes.
太行隆肛蛙是中国中部秦岭地区的特有物种,在过去几十年间其种群数量急剧下降。这项研究的目的是量化秦岭地区太行隆肛蛙的形态变异,并探究这种形态特征变异与环境的相关性。我们采用层次划分法来估计每个环境变量对形态变异的独立贡献。温度季节性变化是影响吻肛长(SVL)和头宽变异的最大因素,最低月份的紫外线B(UV-B)辐射对大腿长度和胫骨宽度的影响最为显著。然后,我们使用广义相加模型来分析每个环境因素与形态特征变异之间的关系。随着年平均温度的升高,SVL先下降后上升,这表明不符合贝格曼法则。此外,SVL与年降水量呈负相关,与温度季节性变化呈正相关。最高月和最低月的平均UV-B分别与头宽、大腿长度和胫骨宽度呈正相关和负相关。这项研究的结果有助于我们从环境变化的角度,通过形态变异来了解这种山地蛙类物种的适应潜力。