Strobel Sarah McKay, Fischer Eva K, Womack Molly C
Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
R Soc Open Sci. 2025 May 7;12(5):250202. doi: 10.1098/rsos.250202. eCollection 2025 May.
Increased trait responsiveness to the environment can provide short-term benefits but may induce delayed costs. Anurans (frogs and toads) provide an excellent system to examine phenotypic plasticity and developmental carry-over effects given their ecologically distinct life stages, which have distinct development and growth opportunities. Previous research has predominantly assessed phenotype at metamorphosis rather than within and across life stages. To address this knowledge gap, we reared wood frogs () at two densities and assessed morphology and survival at multiple larval and post-metamorphic timepoints. As expected, the high-density rearing environment depressed early larval size and survivorship and delayed metamorphosis. However, compensatory growth-rate plasticity enabled high-density tadpoles to metamorphose at a similar size as low-density tadpoles. Regardless of rearing density, larval duration was negatively correlated with metamorphic mass for the earliest developers and influenced post-metamorphic survivorship and morphology, but we found evidence for a trade-off between compensatory growth and later-life survival. Our results reinforce the need to sample at multiple timepoints and life stages to understand interactions between phenotype and developmental environment. More broadly, this study contributes to understanding trade-offs and compensation associated with phenotypic plasticity, which will become even more critical given accelerating rates of global environmental change.
对环境增加的性状响应能力可以带来短期益处，但可能会引发延迟成本。无尾目动物（青蛙和蟾蜍）鉴于其在生态上截然不同的生命阶段，拥有独特的发育和生长机会，从而提供了一个研究表型可塑性和发育遗留效应的绝佳系统。以往的研究主要评估变态时的表型，而非在生命阶段内及不同生命阶段之间进行评估。为了填补这一知识空白，我们以两种密度饲养林蛙，并在多个幼体和变态后时间点评估其形态和存活率。正如预期的那样，高密度饲养环境抑制了幼体早期的大小和存活率，并延迟了变态。然而，补偿性生长速率可塑性使高密度蝌蚪能够以与低密度蝌蚪相似的大小变态。无论饲养密度如何，最早发育的个体其幼体期持续时间与变态时的体重呈负相关，并影响变态后的存活率和形态，但我们发现了补偿性生长与后期生存之间存在权衡的证据。我们的结果强化了在多个时间点和生命阶段进行采样以理解表型与发育环境之间相互作用的必要性。更广泛地说，这项研究有助于理解与表型可塑性相关的权衡和补偿，鉴于全球环境变化加速，这将变得更加关键。
