Topic
Painted frog
About: Painted frog is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 17 publications have been published within this topic receiving 141 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: Results suggest that competition between native and non-native species can cause recipient communities to become less structured, and this is a possible consequence of competitive interactions in the recipient community on a regional scale.
Abstract: The painted frog, Discoglossus pictus, was introduced into the Iberian Peninsula 100 years ago and its distribution has steadily increased since then. We studied the effects of this non-native amphibian species on the native ones in the northeastern area of the peninsula. We compared amphibian assemblages in regions with and without D. pictus to estimate niche overlap between species. Additionally, we carried out a laboratory evaluation of the effects of competition between the non-native and the two native species with which it overlaps most commonly: Bufo calamita and Pelodytes punctatus. The presence of D. pictus larvae reduced the survival, body mass and activity of B. calamita, and increased time to metamorphosis. Furthermore, D. pictus showed the highest consumption rate while P. punctatus showed the lowest. One possible consequence of these competitive interactions is an alteration of species co-occurrence patterns in the recipient community on a regional scale. In the non-invaded area, the checkerboard score (C-score) of co-occurrence indicated that the community was structured, whereas the standardized C-score in the invaded area indicated that the community did not differ significantly from having a random structure. These results suggest that competition between native and non-native species can cause recipient communities to become less structured.
48 citations
TL;DR: Evidence of the emergence of Bd on Sardinia is reported and the first evidence of lethal chytridiomycosis outside of Spain is reported, causing serious reason for concern for the impact that disease emergence may have on the conservation of the amphibians of the island.
Abstract: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the causative agent of the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis, is an important factor in the global decline of amphibians. Within Europe, animals that exhibit clinical signs of the disease have only been reported in Spain despite the pathogen’s wide, but patchy, distribution on the continent. Recently, another occurrence of chytridiomycosis was reported in Euproctus platycephalus, the Sardinian brook newt, on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, but without any evidence of fatal disease. We report further evidence of the emergence of Bd on Sardinia and the first evidence of lethal chytridiomycosis outside of Spain. Unusual mortalities of the Tyrrhenian painted frog (Discoglossus sardus) were found at three sites in the Limbara mountains of northern Sardinia. Molecular and histological screens of corpses, frogs, and tadpoles from these sites revealed infection with Bd. Infection and mortality occurred at locations that are unusual in terms of the published habitat requirements of the pathogen. Given the endemicity, the IUCN Red List status of the amphibian species on Sardinia, and the occurrence of infection and mortality caused by chytridiomycosis, there is serious reason for concern for the impact that disease emergence may have on the conservation of the amphibians of the island.
42 citations
TL;DR: A peptidomic analysis of the secretions revealed the presence of an abundant peptide with structural similarity to frenatin 2, previously isolated from the Australian frog Litoria infrafrenata (Hylidae).
25 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that higher precipitation promotes faster growth rates and larger adult body size that could facilitate the successful establishment of invasive populations.
16 citations
TL;DR: The urogenital system in D. pictus deviates dramatically from the typical structure of male gonads in other anurans, and the secretion of a PAS-positive substance by Sertoli cells during spermatogenesis was described.
Abstract: Larval, juvenile, and adult testes of Discoglossus pictus were examined to investigate how the extremely elongated sperm of this species, up to 2,500 μm, can be accommodated within the testicular tubules of the gonad. Seminiferous tubules in D. pictus are modest in number, of large diameter, and run straight from the posterior to the anterior ends of the testis. The modified testis structure originates in its unique development. The anterior part of the testis is composed of short and straight tubules forming the rete testis. The lumen of the seminiferous tubules is filled with bundles composed of sperm embedded in a periodic acid-Schiff stain (PAS)-positive matrix secreted by Sertoli cells. The formation of such extremely elongated spermatozoa is possible because of anatomical modifications including simplification of testis structure, enlargement of the diameter of testicular tubules, reduction in their number, assembly of rete testis tubules in the anterior part of the testis, reduction of the...
5 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2015 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 |