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Movement orientation by adult and juvenile Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica) and American Toads (Bufo americanus) over multiple years.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Homan, Rebecca Newcomb Atwood, Meredith A. Dunkle, Alexis Karr, Steven B. |
| Copyright Year | 2010 |
| Abstract | —We conducted a four-year study of Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica) and American Toads (Bufo americanus) occurring syntopically at a breeding site surrounded by different, but equally accessible, habitat types to investigate whether adults and juveniles had non-random movement orientations and whether those orientations differed among species, life stages, and years. Using a single drift fence encircling the breeding pond, we found that adult Wood Frogs oriented non-randomly each year and consistently avoided orientating their migration toward or away from habitat consisting of relatively younger, successional, more restricted forest, with a road edge, and with high soil moisture, and reduced canopy cover and litter depth (West). Adult American Toads oriented their migrations non-randomly to and from the pond in three or four of the years, respectively, but, orientation patterns were inconsistent across years. Wood Frog and American Toad juveniles initially oriented non-randomly each year; however, the patterns also showed no trends across years. Adult Wood Frog orientations did not seem to be affected by the differences in forest age or between residential or agricultural edges, but the road edge, the reduction in leaf litter depth, and/or tree density might have negatively impacted their orientation patterns. It remains unclear why adult American Toad patterns varied over time. Furthermore, juvenile trends showed that metamorphs did make an orientation decision, but because that predominant direction changed across years, perhaps cues other than habitat were influential. We suggest that multi-year studies may be crucial to fully understand movement patterns of a particular amphibian life stage and/or species. |
| Starting Page | 64 |
| Ending Page | 72 |
| Page Count | 9 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Volume Number | 5 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.herpconbio.org/Volume_5/Issue_1/Homan_etal_2010.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
