Evol Ecol Res 5: 431-437 (2003)     Full PDF if your library subscribes.

Thermal environment, survival and local adaptation in the common frog, Rana temporaria

Mats Olsson and Tobias Uller*

Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, Medicinaregatan 18, Box 463, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden

Address correspondence to either author.e-mail: mats.olsson@zool.gu.se; tobias.uller@zool.gu.se

ABSTRACT

Natural selection of organisms results in differences between populations in response to environmental conditions – that is, local adaptation. Understanding heterogeneity at this level requires identification of the different selection pressures that cause this differentiation. Tadpoles of the common frog, Rana temporaria, from northern Sweden show superior growth in warmer incubation conditions than tadpoles from the south, and vice versa in cooler conditions. A plausible explanation for this is that the thermal optimum in the northern population has been shifted by selection to correspond better with the relatively warmer developmental conditions experienced in the north compared with the south (northern ponds are warmer because they are shallower and tend to heat more quickly following the melting of snow). To test this hypothesis, we performed an experiment in which frogs from both regions were allowed to develop in water temperatures representative of those in their natural breeding ponds and in those at the other climatic extreme. Tadpoles in the ‘warm’ (northern) part of the range had markedly reduced survival at low temperatures compared with those from the cooler region in the south, with a non-significant difference at relatively high temperatures. Thus, northern frogs appear to have evolved towards becoming high-temperature ‘specialists’, with local adaptation being upheld by hard selection on tadpole survival.

Keywords: local adaptation, Rana temporaria, survival, temperature.

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        © 2003 Mats Olsson and Tobias Uller. All EER articles are copyrighted by their authors. All authors endorse, permit and license Evolutionary Ecology Ltd. to grant its subscribing institutions/libraries the copying privileges specified below without additional consideration or payment to them or to Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. These endorsements, in writing, are on file in the office of Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. Consult authors for permission to use any portion of their work in derivative works, compilations or to distribute their work in any commercial manner.

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