Eye?body allometry across biphasic ontogeny in anuran amphibians

Brain regeneration in anuran amphibians.

Urodele amphibians are highly regenerative animals. After partial removal of the brain in urodeles, ependymal cells around the wound surface proliferate, differentiate into neurons and glias and finally regenerate the lost tissue. In contrast to urodeles, this type of brain regeneration is restricted only to the larval stages in anuran amphibians (frogs). In adult frogs, whereas ependymal cells...

Biophysics of underwater hearing in anuran amphibians.

A standing wave tube apparatus was used to determine the biophysical basis of underwater hearing sensitivity in 3 species of Rana and in Xenopus laevis. A speaker inside the base of a vertical, water-filled 3 m steel pipe produced standing waves. Pressure and particle motion were measured with a hydrophone and geophone respectively and were spatially 90 degrees out of phase along the length of ...

Hormones and acoustic communication in anuran amphibians.

Circulating hormone levels can mediate changes in the quality of courtship signals by males and/or mate choice by females and may thus play an important role in the evolution of courtship signals. Costs associated with shifts in hormone levels of males, for example, could effectively stabilize directional selection by females on male signals. Alternatively, if hormone levels affect the selectio...

Allometry and size in ontogeny and phylogeny.

Developmental changes in interrenal responsiveness in anuran amphibians.

Basal activity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis changes over development in larval amphibians, but development of the responsiveness of this axis to an external stressor has not been studied. We compared developmental changes in whole-body corticosterone content of two anuran amphibian species, Rana pipiens (family Ranidae) and Xenopus laevis (family Pipidae). We also examined...