AGE COMPOSITION AND GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS OF RANA TEMPORARIA FROM POPULATIONS
WITH EXTREMALLY SHORT ACTIVITY SEASON 

Lyapkov Sergey Marlenovich, Candidate of biological sciences, leading researcher, sub-department of evolutionary biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University (1 Leninskiye Gory, Moscow, Russia), E-mail: lyapkov@mail.ru 

59.002;591.431.4;591.84 

DOI

10.21685/2307-9150-2019-1-10 

Background. Rana temporaria specimens from populations with different duration of activity season. The purpose is the revealing of adaptations in postmetamorphic growth rate as reaction to shortening of duration of activity season in habitats of several populations.
Materials and methods. The material are Rana temporaria frogs from two populations with short activity season and three populations with relatively long activity season. Method is skeletochronology, i.e. making of stained cross-sections of long bones, its study and measurements of LAGs and back-calculations of body lengths corresponded each of ages.
Results. Age composition and qualitative characteristics of postmetamorphic growth are studied, estimations of yearly body length increments and growth rate are revealed.
Conclusions. Strong constraints of growth in R. temporaria populations with short activity season are resulted in relatively small size at the end of each growth season and in low mean values of body length of adult frogs as well as in absence of sexual differences. In one of two studied populations only, the effects of countergradient selection, i.e. the relatively high rate in yearly increments were revealed. 

Key words

Rana temporaria, Kamchatka, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous area – Ugra, skeletochronology, back-calculation of body length, postmetamorphic growth 

 Download PDF

1. Lyapkov S. M., Kornilova M. B., Serbinova I. A., Korzun E. V., Novitskiy R. V. Sovremennaya gerpetologiya [Modern hepatology]. 2009, vol. 9, no. 3/4, pp. 103–121. [In Russian]
2. Lyapkov S. M. Sovremennaya gerpetologiya [Modern hepatology]. 2016, vol. 16, no. 3/4, pp. 123–128. [In Russian]
3. Marunouchi J., Kusano T., Ueda H. Current Herpetology. 2000, vol. 19, pp. 81–89.
4. Patrelle C., Hjernquist M. B., Laurila A., Soderman F., Merila J. Polar Biology. 2012, vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 1505–1513.
5. Lyapkov S. M. Printsipy ekologii [Principles of ecology]. 2012, no. 2, pp. 21–44. [In Russian]
6. Smirina E. M. Zoologicheskiy zhurnal [Zoological journal]. 1980, vol. 59, no. 12, pp. 1831–1840. [In Russian]
7. Lyapkov S. M. Zoologicheskiy zhurnal [Zoological journal]. 1995, vol. 74, no. 2, pp. 66–79. [In Russian]