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Yermokhin M. V., Tabachishin V. G. Body Size and Condition Dynamics of Pelobates fuscus (Anura, Pelobatidae) Metamorfs under Transphormation of Floodplain Lakes Hydrological Regime. Current Studies in Herpetology, 2018, vol. 18, iss. 3, pp. 101-117. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18500/1814-6090-2018-18-3-4-101-117


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Body Size and Condition Dynamics of Pelobates fuscus (Anura, Pelobatidae) Metamorfs under Transphormation of Floodplain Lakes Hydrological Regime

Abstract

The long-term dynamics of size and weight characteristics and body condition of Pelobates fuscus metamorphs in five local populations of the Medveditsa river floodplain (Saratov region) are analyzed. The limits of changes in body length, live and dry weight, and the body condition index (W/SVL) of males and females were established. In 2009 - 2018 the size and weight parameters of the P. fuscus metamorphs had a significant level of interannual variation. The body length was 21.0 to 44.0 mm in males and 22.1 to 44.0 mm in females. The weight of live individuals ranged from 1.05 to 13.34 g in males and from 1.28 to 13.65 g in females. The water content in the body reached 80% (on average), and the dry weight was 0.124 - 2.979 g and 0.155 - 3.256 g for males and females, respectively. The body condition of metamorphs in live weight was 44.1 - 305.2 mg/mm in males and 50.6 - 342.1 mg/mm in females, while that in dry weight was 4.6 - 71.4 and 3.9 - 77.0 mg/mm for males and females, respectively. A significant effect of the water content of the lakes on these parameters was found. All indicators had their highest values in years with high floods and the maximum filling of lake basins with water (2012, 2018), and the smallest ones were observed in dry years, accompanied by a sharp decrease in their volume and drying (2009). The lowest variability of the indicators was established in the populations of the lakes operating in the regime of permanent waterbodies, the highest one was in temporary waterbodies. The data obtained confirm our hypothesis of a low level of exchange of individuals between populations, which contributes to the emergence of local adaptations to features of the hydrological regime of a particular waterbody.

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