Density But Not Kinship Regulates the Growth and Developmental Traits of Chinese Tiger Frog （Hoplobatrachus chinensis） Tadpoles

Kinship and density are believed to affect important ecological processes such as intraspecific competition, predation, growth, development, cannibalism, habitat selection and mate choice, In this work, we used Chinese tiger frog Hoplobatrachus chinensis tadpoles as an experimental model to investigate the effects of kinship and density on growth and development of this species over a 73 day period. The results showed that density can affect the growth and developmental traits （survival rate, larval period, size at the limb bud protrusion/metamorphic climax and body mass at different life stages） of H. chinensis tadpoles, while kinship does not. Tadpoles took longer to develop and potential metamorphosis was greater in high density groups of both sibling and non-siblings. The interaction of kinship and density did not significantly influenced growth traits of H. chinensis tadpoles during the experimental period. For coefficient variations of each growth trait, no differences were detected between sibling and non-sibling groups. These findings provide valuable information on the basic ecology of H. chinensis which will be helpful in future studies of other anuran species.

Density But Not Kinship Regulates the Growth and Developmental Traits of Chinese Tiger Frog (Hoplobatrachus chinensis) Tadpoles

Kinship and density are believed to affect important ecological processes such as intraspecific competition, predation, growth, development, cannibalism, habitat selection and mate choice. In this work, we used Chinese tiger frog Hoplobatrachus chinensis tadpoles as an experimental model to investigate the effects of kinship and density on growth and development of this species over a 73 day period. The results showed that density can affect the growth and developmental traits(survival rate, larval period, size at the limb bud protrusion/metamorphic climax and body mass at different life stages) of H. chinensis tadpoles, while kinship does not. Tadpoles took longer to develop and potential metamorphosis was greater in high density groups of both sibling and non-siblings. The interaction of kinship and density did not significantly influenced growth traits of H. chinensis tadpoles during the experimental period. For coefficient variations of each growth trait, no differences were detected between sibling and non-sibling groups. These findings provide valuable information on the basic ecology of H. chinensis which will be helpful in future studies of other anuran species.