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

我的研究解决了地球上无尾两栖动物(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灭绝，有很多说法，但其中一个因素是一种真菌，树突巴氏杆菌(Batrachochytrium endrobatidis，Bd)，它攻击蝌蚪的口器。这种病原体与世界许多地区青蛙的消失有明确的联系。 通过高速视频，我和我的同事们之前展示了蝌蚪口器的轻微损坏如何改变蝌蚪的进食机制，迫使它们为了获得相同数量的食物而更快地进食。有了这笔新的NSERC拨款，我打算通过培育改变了口器的蝌蚪来进一步探讨这个话题。这些生长实验的目的是了解蝌蚪口器的微小变化不仅影响它们进食的生物力学，而且影响它们的长期生长和生存。这些实验将在几种不同的温度下进行，以探索微小的温度变化，如全球气候变化，如何会加剧小蝌蚪因口器受损而付出的长期代价。 作为我研究的一部分，我还将调查不同物种的蝌蚪如何在进食时使用这些结构。利用高速视频，我将调查蝌蚪口器的差异对它们的功能形态和摄食生态意味着什么。 通过这项研究，我应该能够确定系统发育、温度和形态都如何影响蝌蚪的摄食和生长。我提议的研究将为无尾两栖动物生物学的两个关键方面提供数据：这些生物如何使用口器进食，以及非致命性Bd感染对蝌蚪的总体生物成本。

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.