Author: Daniel  Knapp,   (Clemson University)

Description:
Ecological stoichiometry provides a framework to predict how animals regulate nutritional balances within their tissue and, as a result, how animal biomass can affect nutrient cycling. Larval anurans (i.e. tadpoles) provide useful models to test predictions of ecological stoichiometry as they undergo a complex development and exhibit variable interspecific life-history traits that may lead to shifts in tissue stoichiometry. In addition, larval anurans can constitute the majority of animal biomass in geographically isolated wetlands (GIWs), suggesting they play a role in nutrient cycling. We tested whether key life-history traits, specifically developmental stages, body size, developmental period length, and breeding season, affected tissue stoichiometry in larvae from 11 anuran species. We also estimated larval anuran biomass and nutrient storage throughout hydroperiods of four GIWs in southwestern Georgia, USA. Our results revealed developmental stages highly influenced larval anuran tissue stoichiometry and that determinants of interspecific variation in larval anuran stoichiometry include body size and developmental period. We observed temporally and spatially variable larval anuran nutrient storage in GIWs and we also found evidence linking species identity and nutrient storage. The detected patterns in larval anuran developmental and interspecific stoichiometry, along with the patterns in larval anuran nutrient storage, provide critical information for elucidating the role of animals in wetland nutrient cycling.

Category: Scientific Program Abstract > Special Session > CS24 Biodiversity