This repository contains code and data needed to reproduce the article:
Wu N. C., Fuh N. T., Borzée A., Wu C. S., Kam, Y. C., & Chuang M. F. Developmental plasticity to pond drying has carry-over costs on metamorph performance. (Submitted).
Raw data
- larvae_data.csv - Data for the tadpole length across treatment days.
- metamorph_data.csv - Data on various traits measured in the experiments for both tapdoles and metamorphs.
Analysis workflow
supplementary_information.html- Supplementary information which contains the R workflow for processing and analysing the raw data, creating figures, and supplementary material for statistical outcomes, additional figures, and descriptions from the main document.
Increasing variable hydroperiods may leave ectotherms with complex life cycles more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. While developmental plasticity may allow some species to escape drying ponds, this plasticity might result in trade-offs with performance and subsequent fitness in adults. Here, we used rice paddy frogs (Fejervarya limnocharis) to test how drying pond influences the developmental plasticity of tadpoles, and the resulting carry-over effects on body size and jumping performance. We predict that tadpoles under simulated drought conditions (2–0.25 cm depth) compared to low stable water level conditions (0.25 cm depth) will develop faster, and subsequent metamorphs will be smaller and have lower jumping performance. We show that tadpoles in drying conditions had faster developmental rate than tadpoles in stable low water level treatments. Metamorph size from the drying treatment was similar to the high water treatments (2 cm depth), but maximum distance jumped was lower for individuals from the drying condition than that of the high water treatment. These results indicate that drying conditions for F. limnocharis increase the development rate without a reduction in size at metamorphosis, but there are trade-offs with poorer locomotor performance which can potentially impact their survival and reproductive success.
Keywords: amphibian, climate change, fitness, life history, locomotion, drought, tadpole