Selective pressures favor variation in organ size in response to environmental changes and evolutionary process. In particular, changes in environmental temperature and rainfall at different altitudes often affect foo...Selective pressures favor variation in organ size in response to environmental changes and evolutionary process. In particular, changes in environmental temperature and rainfall at different altitudes often affect food resources, thereby mediating energy intake and allocation. The digestive tract provided a functional relationship between energy intake and allocation, of which gut morphology was associated with diet changes and food quality under different environments. Here we studied altitudinal variation in the digestive tract across four Feirana quadranus populations and tested the hypothesis that relative size of digestive tract should increase with increasing altitude. The results showed that although significant variation in length of the digestive tract was observed in females among populations, altitudinal variation in relative length of digestive tract or gut was non-significant. In addition, the digestive tract length was not correlated with temperature and precipitation across the four populations. Our findings suggest that individuals living in low-temperature and-precipitation populations at high altitudes did not display longer digestive tract than high temperature and precipitation populations at low altitudes, possibly because of small populations or sample sizes.展开更多
The compensation hypothesis predicts that if the left testis is defective e.g.due to developmental stress,the increased right testis serves a compensatory role,and thereby displaying testes asymmetry which can be a re...The compensation hypothesis predicts that if the left testis is defective e.g.due to developmental stress,the increased right testis serves a compensatory role,and thereby displaying testes asymmetry which can be a reliable indicator of male body condition.Here,to test the prediction of the compensation hypothesis,we analyzed difference in size between left testis and right testis and the relationship between testes asymmetry and male body condition in the swelled vent frog(Feirana quadranus).We found that the left testis was larger than right testis,displaying a significant directional asymmetry in testes size.Although testes mass was correlated with body condition,testes asymmetry was not correlated with body condition,which cannot provide evidence that the right testis had a compensatory function.Our findings suggest no evidence for the compensation hypothesis in this species due to lacking the compensatory function in right testis.展开更多
基金Financial support was provided by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (31772451)the Key Cultivation Foundation of China West Normal University (17A006)+1 种基金Talent Project of China West Normal University (17YC335)the Science and Technology Youth Innovation Team of Sichuan Province (19CXTD0022)
文摘Selective pressures favor variation in organ size in response to environmental changes and evolutionary process. In particular, changes in environmental temperature and rainfall at different altitudes often affect food resources, thereby mediating energy intake and allocation. The digestive tract provided a functional relationship between energy intake and allocation, of which gut morphology was associated with diet changes and food quality under different environments. Here we studied altitudinal variation in the digestive tract across four Feirana quadranus populations and tested the hypothesis that relative size of digestive tract should increase with increasing altitude. The results showed that although significant variation in length of the digestive tract was observed in females among populations, altitudinal variation in relative length of digestive tract or gut was non-significant. In addition, the digestive tract length was not correlated with temperature and precipitation across the four populations. Our findings suggest that individuals living in low-temperature and-precipitation populations at high altitudes did not display longer digestive tract than high temperature and precipitation populations at low altitudes, possibly because of small populations or sample sizes.
基金the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China(31471996,31772451,31970393)the Key Cultivation Foundation of China West Normal University(17A006)+1 种基金the Science and Technology Youth Innovation Team of Sichuan Province(19CXTD0022)Talent Project of China West Normal University(17YC335)to provide for financial support。
文摘The compensation hypothesis predicts that if the left testis is defective e.g.due to developmental stress,the increased right testis serves a compensatory role,and thereby displaying testes asymmetry which can be a reliable indicator of male body condition.Here,to test the prediction of the compensation hypothesis,we analyzed difference in size between left testis and right testis and the relationship between testes asymmetry and male body condition in the swelled vent frog(Feirana quadranus).We found that the left testis was larger than right testis,displaying a significant directional asymmetry in testes size.Although testes mass was correlated with body condition,testes asymmetry was not correlated with body condition,which cannot provide evidence that the right testis had a compensatory function.Our findings suggest no evidence for the compensation hypothesis in this species due to lacking the compensatory function in right testis.