The importance of tadpole feeding biomechanics: Testing for effects of missing teeth on amphibian health.

蝌蚪进食生物力学的重要性：测试缺失牙齿对两栖动物健康的影响。

• 批准号: 8194-2012
• 负责人: Wassersug, Richard
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: Dalhousie University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=568570
• 关键词: importance; tadpole; feeding; biomechanics; Testing

My research addresses the critical problem of the declining number of anurans (frogs and toads) on our planet. There have been many suggestions about what is leading to the demise of these animals, but one factor is a fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), that attacks the mouthparts of tadpoles. This pathogen has been specifically linked to the disappearance of frogs in many parts of the world. Using high-speed video, my colleagues and I have previously shown how minor damage to tadpole mouthparts alters tadpole feeding mechanics and forces them to feed faster in order to acquire the same amount of food. With this new NSERC grant, I intend to explore this topic further by raising tadpoles, which have altered mouthparts, to metamorphosis. The purpose of these growth experiments is to understand how minor changes in tadpole mouthparts influence not only the biomechanics of their feeding, but also their long-term growth and survival. These experiments will be carried out at several different temperatures to explore how small temperature changes, such as from global climate change, can exacerbate the long-term cost to tadpoles of having damage to their mouthparts. As part of my research, I will also investigate how tadpoles from a variety of species that differ in their larval oral anatomy use those structures in feeding. Using high-speed video, I will investigate what differences in tadpole mouthparts means to their functional morphology and feeding ecology. From this research I should be able to determine how phylogeny, temperature, and morphology all influence tadpole feeding and growth. My proposed research will provide data for two critical aspects of anuran biology: how these organisms use their mouthparts in feeding and the overall biological cost of non-lethal Bd infections on tadpoles.

我的研究解决了我们星球上无尾两栖动物（青蛙和蟾蜍）数量下降的关键问题。关于是什么导致了这些动物的死亡，有很多说法，但其中一个因素是一种真菌，Batrachochytrium dendrobaerum（Bd），它攻击蝌蚪的口器。这种病原体与世界许多地方青蛙的消失有着特定的联系。 我和我的同事们之前已经使用高速视频展示了蝌蚪口器的轻微损伤如何改变蝌蚪的进食机制，并迫使它们以更快的速度进食以获得相同数量的食物。有了这个新的NSERC拨款，我打算通过饲养改变了口器的蝌蚪来进一步探索这个话题。这些生长实验的目的是了解蝌蚪口器的微小变化如何不仅影响其摄食的生物力学，而且影响其长期生长和生存。这些实验将在几个不同的温度下进行，以探索微小的温度变化，如全球气候变化，如何加剧蝌蚪的口器受损的长期成本。 作为我研究的一部分，我还将研究不同种类的蝌蚪如何在其幼虫的口腔解剖结构中使用这些结构来进食。使用高速视频，我将调查蝌蚪口器的差异意味着他们的功能形态和摄食生态。 从这项研究中，我应该能够确定蝌蚪发育、温度和形态如何影响蝌蚪的摄食和生长。我提议的研究将为无尾两栖类生物学的两个关键方面提供数据：这些生物如何使用它们的口器进食，以及蝌蚪非致命性Bd感染的总体生物成本。